Top German conservative partly blames Germany and EU for Brexit

“We lost patience with the special role that Britain always played in European politics. We didn’t do enough to help them come to a different referendum result,” he said.

In January 2020, the U.K. left the EU after a contentious referendum in June 2016, which the Leave campaign won by a margin of 52 percent to 48 percent.

Merz, whose center-right CDU is flying high in opinion polls, added he wanted closer ties between the U.K. and the EU.

“We have a plethora of opportunities, at least in foreign and defense policy, that we should explore together,” he said. “We Germans have a huge strategic interest in keeping the U.K. closely engaged in Europe.”