Germany’s Der Spiegel will publish a bilingual edition of its weekly magazine in English and German on Saturday containing a strong appeal to Britons to vote on June 23 to stay in the European Union.
Der Spiegel will publish two different covers of the magazine with the one sold in Britain titled “Please don’t go! Why Germany needs the British.” It will be available at a reduced price of 2 pounds ($2.90), Spiegel said.
Spiegel Editor-in-Chief Klaus Brinkbaeumer said the magazine’s cover story would contain a multitude of reasons on why the EU cannot do without Britain.
“The result is an objective but also strong, emotional – and bilingual – appeal to the country: Please don’t go!” Brinkbaeumer said in a statement on Friday.
While German politicians have stayed out of the campaign in the run-up to Britain’s June 23 referendum on EU membership, for fear of being seen to be bossing Britons around, Berlin is worried about losing a kindred free-market spirit in the bloc.
Spiegel said the cover story would describe the important role Britain has played in shaping the EU and analyze the consequences of a Brexit on Europe’s security, ability to combat terror and geo-strategic weight.
A survey from polling firm TNS for Spiegel found 79 percent of Germans wanted Britain to remain in the EU.
Just over half of respondents believed that a Brexit would have no negative impact on the Germany economy, compared to 36 percent who thought the economic situation in Europe’s largest economy would deteriorate.
The survey of 1,025 people was conducted between June 7 and June 8.
($1 = 0.6982 pounds)
(Reporting by Caroline Copley; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
