Sigmar Gabriel: We always had someone to blame
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's deputy has revealed Germany and the EU avoided world politics, and let the UK and US do the tough jobs - and then blamed them when something went wrong.
Sigmar Gabriel said that the European Union was never a "partner" to the United States. He explained: "It never had to learn to engage geopolitically, we left it to France, the UK or the United States, to sort things out.
"And truth is also that when it went wrong or got difficult we had someone to point the finger at, it was comfortable for us."
His comments came as he hit out at President Trump and the US saying that he expects it "respects the unity of the EU" and not try to divide it, adding that the EU deals with the US in a "trustful" manner, not as a follower".