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‘What a Brexshit!’: How Germany is reacting to the Brexit deal defeat

As the UK parliament gets ready to debate a vote of no confidence on Wednesday evening after MPs voted against Theresa May's Brexit deal by a huge majority, we look at what Germany has to say.

Published: 16 January 2019 08:11 CET
Updated: 16 January 2019 11:48 CET
'What a Brexshit!': How Germany is reacting to the Brexit deal defeat
Photo: DPA

It was the biggest defeat ever suffered by a British Prime Minister in modern history. Parliament voted 432 to 202 against May's plan for taking Britain out of the EU, leaving the country”s future foggy with its legally binding departure date just 10 weeks away.

As Brexit hangs in the balance, Politicians, newspapers and commentators in Germany and Europe have been having their say on the chaotic events taking place on the island.

SEE ALSO: Brits in EU demand to be spared from Brexit 'train crash' after May's deal rejected

Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said Wednesday that delaying Brexit beyond March 29th would make no “sense”, after a vote in London brought a crushing defeat for a withdrawal deal negotiated with the EU.

“It would only make sense (to extend the deadline) if there is a path to the goal of a deal between the EU and Great Britain,” Maas said in an interview on Deutschlandfunk public radio.

For now, “that is not the majority view in the British parliament,” he added.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also this week argued that Brexit should not be pushed back, although she did not rule it out completely.

Maas added that he was doubtful any significant improvements could be made to the draft withdrawal agreement on the table – negotiated over two years since London notified Brussels it would quit the European Union.

“We have a compromise,” Maas said. “If more could have been offered, it would have been done weeks ago.”

The centre-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) politician added that he hoped a no-confidence vote Wednesday fails to topple May's government.

“We need a stable government for the negotiations,” he said.

Maas also tweeted to say the ball is now in the UK's court. He added that it isn't clear what the UK wants, “only what it doesn't want”, and mentioned Germany's preparations for the event of a deal and a no-deal.

“In Germany, we have passed two major legislative packages in order to be prepared for everything. But: we hope for reason,” he added.

'Bitter day for Europe'

Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday the defeat of British Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal in parliament was a “bitter day for Europe”.

“This is a bitter day for Europe. We are well prepared – but a hard Brexit would be the least attractive choice, for the EU and GB (Great Britain),” said Scholz, who is also finance minister.

Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right CDU party and her likely successor, tweeted that she “deeply regretted” the British decision.

“A hard Brexit will be the worst of all options,” she said, urging the British people to “not rush” into anything.

Germany's Minister of State for European Affairs Michael Roth called the outcome a “disaster” but added: “The doors of Europe remain open.”

Dietmar Bartsch, of the Die Linke (the Left), tweeted that “madness has taken hold” in London.

'Brexshit'

Newspapers across Germany led with the story. Daily Bild ran with the headline: “Was für ein Brexshit!” (What a Brexshit), and in an opinion piece, it said the UK was “formerly known as the Island of Reason”.

It added: “In Parliament, Prime Minister Theresa May has humiliatingly lost her most important vote – but that doesn't mean she's being chased out of office by the same large majority today. So she is stalking London like a political undead.

“It is sad to see the future of such a proud Great Britain being blown away.”

The Frankfurter Rundschau ran with a photo of British comedy character Mr Bean and a Hamlet quote: “Though this be madness, yet there is method in't.” The colloquial version is: “There's method in the madness.”

The Frankfurter Allgemeine ran with the headline: “Und, Jetzt?!” – “Now what?!”

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece, the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung didn't hold back.

“There is no glue that can be used to reassemble the British political system, which has disintegrated into a thousand splinters,” it said.

“Theresa May has suffered a brutal defeat, her plan to implement the citizens' Brexit wish has failed. But: the Prime Minister accepts this defeat as part of the show, only to march on stoically. But where does she actually want to go?”

'No room for renegotiation'

If May wins the vote of no confidence she will likely want to go back to EU partners to see if she can amend the deal.

Reinhard Bütikofer, head of the Green Party in Europe, said he couldn't see any more room for renegotiation.

“The alternatives are hard, but inevitable: either Article 50 will be withdrawn – with or without a new referendum – or there will be a hard Brexit of the worst kind,” Bütikofer said in Brussels.

Nicola Beer, the pro business Free Democrat's lead candidate for the European elections, called for a special EU summit within 48 hours.

Beer told DPA: “The situation in Britain and the EU after Theresa May's defeat after the vote is dramatic. The EU must react immediately”.

She said that “steps the EU can take to ensure that there is an orderly Brexit and that as close a relationship as possible between the EU and Britain can then develop” should be a priority.

Federal Justice Minister Katarina Barley of the centre left Social Democrats, also rejected the idea of renegotiations.

She told the Funke Group newspapers that the UK must ensure stability. “We support Great Britain on its way, but there will be no renegotiations of the agreement,” she said.

At the same time she warned that a disorderly withdrawal would have “dramatic consequences for Britain, for Germany and for Europe”. Barley herself has a British passport. “I have been British since birth and will remain so,” she added.

Member comments

  1. Mrs May caused all this bother by her complete lack of a political knowledge. She filled her cabinet with equal numbers of remainers and brexiteers to probably in order to accomodate her Womanly sense of fairness. This gradually caused a gigantic split of opinion right across the country with no respect of party or nationality. People disregarded the long-standing modus vendi in UK that when a national vote has been taken, the result is honoured until the statutary time comes to take another vote. The resul being that factions are now demanding a new vote on brexit or indeed a new government.

    Mrs May also has no feeling of getting any sort of good deal inasmuch as she threw aaway her best bagaining chips namely promising 49Bn pounds and renoucing a no-deal brexit. In just about everyting she does she puts her foot in it.
    Poor old England, events have conspired against her and I have yet to see any understanding of our position in the German press and very little sympathy from the people that I have spoken to – they are only interested in the fact that most people in UK wish to leave the EU but not bothering to find out the reasons why this is so. COLBRO

  2. Colbro is talking rubbish; most people in England DO NOT want to leave the EU, current polls show the opposite. The only way forward is a general election, but the Tory party would rather see no deal than a settled agreement that harms the fewest number, in Britain and the EU. May’s intransigence, and Corbyn’s dithering and weakness offer little hope for Britain; but at least a change of government might clear the air. As an Englishman in France I despair of the future…..

  3. May and her government are totally out of touch with the normal people of the country who will suffer the most. Unfortunately there are still a lot of people who believe Germany will intervene and beg the EU to give the UK all it wants as its car makers are so dependent on the UK ‘they need us more than we need them’. The arrogance must stop and Labour must sit up and become a proper opposition and end this madness. I live in the North East who unfortunately bought the lies peddled in 2016 and who will be hit the hardest. I am near retirement but I fear for the future of my grandchildren. What is going on now in the UK is not pretty and the racism and nationalism that has come to the fore and been allowed to grow smacks of Germany in the 1930s. Let us hope we can stop this madness now. A no deal Brexit would be more detrimental for the UK than the EU or Germany. I know the people voted leave as a reaction to the terrible years of austerity metered out by this government, but they are cutting their nose off to spite their face. I am ashamed to be British, I just wish I had taken German nationality when I lived there, at least my daughter is dual national and still has the full advantages of the EU. People forget the reason it was founded, peace in Europe and it has fulfilled that and the citizens of the UK have also profited from membership we have a much better standard of living now than in the 1970s.
    The government need to really listen as the ‘will of the people’ is not what they are offering now!

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BREXIT

OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

The EU has drawn up plans to make it easier for non-EU citizens to gain longterm EU residency so they can move more easily around the bloc, but Italy-based citizens' rights campaigner Clarissa Killwick says Brits who moved to the EU before Brexit are already losing out.

Published: 8 December 2023 14:34 CET
OPINION: Pre-Brexit Brits in Europe should be given EU long-term residency

With all the talk about the EU long-term residency permit and the proposed improvements there is no mention that UK citizens who are Withdrawal Agreement “beneficiaries” are currently being left out in the cold.

The European Commission has stated that we can hold multiple statuses including the EU long-term permit (Under a little-known EU law, third-country nationals can in theory acquire EU-wide long-term resident status if they have lived ‘legally’ in an EU country for at least five years) but in reality it is just not happening.

This effectively leaves Brits locked into their host countries while other third country nationals can enjoy some mobility rights. As yet, in Italy, it is literally a question of the computer saying no if someone tries to apply.

The lack of access to the EU long-term permit to pre-Brexit Brits is an EU-wide issue and has been flagged up to the European Commission but progress is very slow.

READ ALSO: EU government settle on rules for how non-EU citizens could move around Europe

My guess is that few UK nationals who already have permanent residency status under the Withdrawal Agreement are even aware of the extra mobility rights they could have with the EU long-term residency permit – or do not even realise they are two different things.

Perhaps there won’t be very large numbers clamouring for it but it is nothing short of discrimination not to make it accessible to British people who’ve built their lives in the EU.

They may have lost their status as EU citizens but nothing has changed concerning the contributions they make, both economically and socially.

An example of how Withdrawal Agreement Brits in Italy are losing out

My son, who has lived almost his whole life here, wanted to study in the Netherlands to improve his employment prospects.

Dutch universities grant home fees rather than international fees to holders of an EU long-term permit. The difference in fees for a Master’s, for example, is an eye-watering €18,000. He went through the application process, collecting the requisite documents, making the payments and waited many months for an appointment at the “questura”, (local immigration office).

On the day, it took some persuading before they agreed he should be able to apply but then the whole thing was stymied because the national computer system would not accept a UK national. I am in no doubt, incidentally, that had he been successful he would have had to hand in his WA  “carta di soggiorno”.

This was back in February 2022 and nothing has budged since then. In the meantime, it is a question of pay up or give up for any students in the same boat as my son. There is, in fact, a very high take up of the EU long-term permit in Italy so my son’s non-EU contemporaries do not face this barrier.

Long-term permit: The EU’s plan to make freedom of movement easier for non- EU nationals 

Completing his studies was stalled by a year until finally his Italian citizenship came through after waiting over 5 years.  I also meet working adults in Italy with the EU long-term permit who use it for work purposes, such as in Belgium and Germany, and for family reunification.  

Withdrawal agreement card should double up as EU long-term residency permit

A statement that Withdrawal Agreement beneficiaries should be able to hold multiple statuses is not that easy to find. You have to scroll quite far down the page on the European Commission’s website to find a link to an explanatory document. It has been languishing there since March 2022 but so far not proved very useful.

It has been pointed out to the Commission that the document needs to be multilingual not just in English and “branded” as an official communication from the Commission so it can be used as a stand-alone. But having an official document you can wave at the immigration authorities is going to get you nowhere if Member State governments haven’t acknowledged that WA beneficiaries can hold multiple statuses and issue clear guidance and make sure systems are modified accordingly.

I can appreciate this is no mean feat in countries where they do not usually allow multiple statuses or, even if they do, issue more than one residency card. Of course, other statuses we should be able to hold are not confined to EU long-term residency, they should include the EU Blue Card, dual nationality, family member of an EU citizen…

Personally, I do think people should be up in arms about this. The UK and EU negotiated an agreement which not only removed our freedom of movement as EU citizens, it also failed to automatically give us equal mobility rights to other third country nationals. We are now neither one thing nor the other.

It would seem the only favour the Withdrawal Agreement did us was we didn’t have to go out and come back in again! Brits who follow us, fortunate enough to get a visa, may well pip us at the post being able to apply for EU long-term residency as clearly defined non-EU citizens.

I have been bringing this issue to the attention of the embassy in Rome, FCDO and the European Commission for three years now. I hope we will see some movement soon.

Finally, there should be no dragging of heels assuming we will all take citizenship of our host countries. Actually, we shouldn’t have to, my son was fortunate, even though it took a long time. Others may not meet the requirements or wish to give up their UK citizenship in countries which do not permit dual nationality.  

Bureaucratic challenges may seem almost insurmountable but why not simply allow our Withdrawal Agreement permanent card to double up as the EU long-term residency permit.

Clarissa Killwick,

Since 2016, Clarissa has been a citizens’ rights campaigner and advocate with the pan-European group, Brexpats – Hear Our Voice.
She is co-founder and co-admin of the FB group in Italy, Beyond Brexit – UK citizens in Italy.

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