I spent yesterday in Berlin - the day after the German team was beaten by Spain in the Euro 2008 final, and the day before the start of the French Presidency of the EU.
I passed the buses taking the team to meet Mrs. Merkel and hundreds of thousands of supporters. Everyone I met was proud of the German team's performance, though they all agreed that the better side had won. It makes you realise what you miss when none of the home teams qualify for these major football finals, but hopefully it will be different for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa.
As well as meetings, my friend the German Europe Minister Günter Gloser and I both spoke at a conference called Global Europe: An Anglo-German Agenda . All our relationships in Europe are important, but I left Berlin even more convinced that a continuing strong relationship with Germany is vital if we want to make progress through Europe on things that matter to people in the UK.
Posted at 14:51 01 July 2008 by Jim Murphy | Comments[0]
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