Britain outside the EU?

British citizens want to vote on whether or not to remain part of a bare-bones EU in 2017, but a British withdrawal from the Union is hardly in Berlin’s interest. The ongoing debate in Great Britain comes at an inconvenient time for Germany. Just as the German government is tying to hold the euro zone together, it must persuade the UK to stay part of the broader EU. To keep the gap from getting too wide, EU debates need to be better linked to each other.