So reads the title of a comment piece in Spiegel following Cameron’s treaty opt-out last week. As Denis MacShane pointed out, the potential effects of his decision are far from clear, insofar as how it will affect both British domestic politics – with the coalition looking increasingly untenable following Nick Clegg’s vocal opposition – and of course Britain’s future role in Europe. What has been startlingly clear here in Berlin, however, is just how the German press, and by all accounts the German people, feel about David Cameron’s decision and the prospects of working with his party in Europe.

Twenty years to the day after the European Council met in Maastricht to draft the treaty which would lead to the creation of the European Union, it is Britain which stands alone of the 27 member states. Cameron’s actions may well have been perceived as showing defiance and strength by many observers in the UK; but the Germans were less impressed.

Spiegel led with ‘Cameron is a coward’, echoing Daniel Cohn-Bendit’s words, and dismissed his actions as being motivated by a desire – born out of fear – to satisfy Eurosceptic  feelings at home. An online survey, also produced by Spiegel, shows that 70 per cent of respondents now feel that Britain should leave the EU altogether. The trashy but highly influential Bild spoke of a ‘British Tragedy’, referred to his actions as embarrassing and isolating, and concluded in a rather damning fashion: ‘Great Britain belongs in Europe. Its government does not.’

The Süddeutsche Zeitung provided a more balanced analysis of Cameron’s actions, but reached an equally unequivocal conclusion, branding last week as a ‘historical mistake’ and criticised the government’s foreign policy as ‘naïve’. Financial Times Germany suggested in its leading article that the UK had given up its right to take on a leading role in Europe in the future, and criticised Cameron’s generalisations and platitudes as weak and insufficient, warning that the UK would quickly be left behind.

Perhaps somewhat surprisingly during a frenzy of Brit-bashing over here in Germany, some praise has been made of Labour’s response – with broad coverage of David Miliband’s criticism of Cameron. Europe may well be led by the conservative Merkozy alliance, but David Miliband’s maxim: ‘we are pro-Europeans because we are pro-British’, as expressed in the recent pamphlet The Future of Labour’s Foreign Policy, is  seeming much more welcoming than Cameron’s isolating refrain of ‘all the best’, at a time of severe financial crisis.

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Jack Tunmore is a member of Progress based in Berlin and tweets @JackTunmore

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Photo: Paul Townsend