Anglo-German relations have transcended the stereotypical jibes, says ambassador – but the EU remains a stumbling block
It is a relationship often likened to a one-sided love affair: the German suitor far keener and admiring than the hard-to-get British coquette. But according to the German envoy in London, Britain and Germany have finally kissed and made up, and it's mutual admiration all round.
In an interview with the Guardian Georg Boomgaarden expresses disappointment at the collapse in German teaching in British schools, and wishes Britons were just a little more European.
But he adds that over four years in Britain he has encountered none of the hostility that blighted previous ambassadorial stints. "I'm travelling a lot in Britain. I never had any incident where I could complain of any resentment. Maybe I was lucky," he reflects.
It has been a tradition for German envoys to moan about Britain's attitude towards Germany. There is, after all, a lot to complain about: the Nazi-centric history curriculum, the tedious jokes and tabloid headlines about sun-loungers and Fritz.
Ten years ago Germany's ambassador to the UK, Thomas Matussek, grew so frustrated he lamented the way A-Level history students learned only about the Third Reich. They knew little of West Germany's post-war success, he said.
Other prominent Germans echoed Matussek's pained complaint: that the British were still obsessed with Hitler, parts of the media "repeating cliches and stereotypes".
Since then UK-German relations have been through a transforming moment: the 2006 World Cup. In the months before the tournament hosted by Germany, the British media resorted to the headlines of old, with the Sun renaming the England squad "David Beckhambauer" and "Sven Goering Erikkson". The paper even published a photograph of Angela Merkel getting changed at a swimming pool in southern Italy with the headline: "I'm big in the Bumdestag."
But the 100,000 England fans who flocked to Berlin and other German cities discovered that Germans were not frigid or humourless but party-loving hedonists, the kind of people you would want to share a beer with.
There was a remarkable shift in tabloid sensibilities, with the media suddenly enraptured by this footballing summer fairy tale. The Germans themselves discovered a new, laid back, patriotism. By the semi-finals (after England had gone out again on penalties) the mood had become pro-German, with English fans cheering on Germany against Argentina.
But figures still suggest the relationship is one-sided. About 300,000 Germans live in Britain, more than double the number of Britons in Germany. German tourists spend almost twice as much time in the UK as vice versa; there are four or five times as many German students studying in British universities than the other way round; British academia is packed with German lecturers, the premiership increasingly a magnet for German football stars such as Arsenal's Lukas Podolski.
The ambassador, however, denies the situation is lopsided. The UK-German relationship is not symmetrical, he suggests, "but it is more balanced – Britain and Germany are two mutually admiring societies but at different times". He points to the flow of British artists and creative types to Berlin, a cool, easyJet connected hub for anyone wanting low rent, world-class infrastructure and a cheap studio. And, he says, there is a strong interest in German science and innovation, as well as in the Hartz labour market reforms carried out under Gerhard Schröder that underpin Germany's current economic success amid Euro gloom.
Asked whether UK history teaching is still a problem, he answers: "This has passed away."
The ambassador has a more general critique. He says the Germans and the Brits are both ignorant of their shared common history, which goes back centuries. Coming up, in 2014, is the 75th anniversary of the start of the second world war and the 100th anniversary of the first.
But as well as this there is the 200th anniversary of the battle of Leipzig, when Prussia and Britain were allies in the pan-European struggle against Napoleon. Go back 300 years to 1714 and you have a German royal dynasty, the House of Hanover, becoming the royal family of Great Britain and Ireland. (That gave us six British monarchs, ending with Queen Victoria's death in 1901.)
"There is such a richness and broad basis for our common history," Boomgaarden says. He is highly critical of the demise of language learning in Britain. Fewer than 5000 students sat German A-Levels this summer; there was a similar fall off, from a higher level, for French and Spanish studies.
Language A-Levels are regarded as tough, and many students are shunning them. "I find that very lamentable," he says. "Everybody in every European country should learn a minimum of two languages." Westminster hasn't helped.
The ambassador says it was a mistake for the last Labour government to allow students to drop studying languages at the age of 14. Several members of the coalition do speak good German; he mentions Nick Clegg, Owen Paterson, and Caroline Spelman. But he adds: "I fear more about the next generation."
The ambassador is scathing about David Cameron's controversial decision in 2009 to exit the European People's party, a coalition of impeccably mainstream centre-right parties in the European parliament which includes Merkel's Christian Democrats.
In response to Eurosceptic pressure, Cameron joined forces with a group of alleged far-right extremists from Poland, and other marginal figures. The Conservatives also sit in the Council of Europe with representatives from Vladimir Putin's United Russia. "The chancellor [Merkel] was not amused," the ambassador says. "Party co-operation in Europe is one of the things which is underestimated."
And what, then, of Germany's role in a collapsing Europe? The Hitler cliches may have diminished in Britain. But they have returned with a vengeance in parts of southern Europe, most notably Greece where Greek publications have depicted "Frau Merkel" in Nazi uniform.
Some left-wing commentators have argued that the Germans are guilty of economic imperialism, imposing austerity on everyone else while enjoying a high standard of living at home.
Boomgaarden regards the criticism of Germany as unfair. "Whenever we don't lead we are accused of not doing it, whenever we lead we are accused of imperialism," he says, quoting a German politician's lament to the former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright.
The ambassador says that Germany's post-Hitler reticence can be easily explained. "After [the second world war] Germany was reinserted into the international system," he says. "It learned to be modest, to avoid any form of hegemonic behaviour."
After the Berlin Wall came down, a united Germany maintained the old west German foreign policy doctrine of "never be alone", the ambassador says.
Despite growing Euroscepticism among the German population, the German political class is remarkably united in its commitment to the European project and to saving the embattled euro.
"There is no country where you could have four or five big decisions in parliament, supported by all but one political party, with 80-85% of voting, in paying out billions and billions to something that is not very popular," he observes.
Boomgaarden, 64, is a veteran diplomat. London is likely to be his last assignment before retirement. He has notched up a series of impressive career postings, including being ambassador to Spain, and completing two stints in Moscow, during the late Brezhnev period, and in the early 1990s under Boris Yeltsin.
With his wife he has travelled extensively across Britain. He mentions Cornwall (a destination popular with Germans because of a romantic German ZDF TV serial set there, based on the novels of Rosamunde Pilcher), Yorkshire, Scotland, Suffolk, and so on. He is fond of cathedrals – "I try to see nearly all of them" – and enjoys staying in B&Bs.
What, then, does he like best about Britain? "I love this debating culture. Prime minister's questions is one of the best things you can see."
And what does he dislike? The ambassador pauses for a moment, then mentions British bureaucracy. Refurbishing the German embassy in SW1 was a Kafkaesque nightmare of form filling and council red tape, he says. "I would like to see more symbolic adherence to Europe. When I go to Ireland there is a European flag on each official building."
We part with what I think must surely be a joke on his part. He says: "If Britain after the [economic] crisis could enter the euro, that would be wonderful."
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