Joschka Fischer on the shift in Germany’s view of EU:
Europe today is no longer seen as the key project in German politics in which people are willing to invest an essential part of their political capital – and thus of their own future. Rather, 20 years after the fall of the Berlin wall, the reunited Germany is beginning to realize that it can also act alone. The problem, of course, is that this is a huge misapprehension.
Bad news on the export side:
German exports in April were 4.8 per cent lower than in March, and 28.7 per cent down on a year earlier, official figures show – the steepest annual fall since records began in 1950, although officials said that April 2008 had been exceptionally buoyant.
