This is Paul Adamson and I'm in conversation with Norbert Rudgen.

Nobert Rudgen is a member of the German Parliament, the Bundestag and chair of its Committee on Foreign Affairs.

Norbert, you've recently co-authored with a number of eminent writers, a paper under the auspices of the Broygal think tank, a paper called Europe After Brexit, a proposal for a continental partnership.

Can you explain in a few words what is the purpose of this paper? What is the main objective?

The objective of this paper is to try to present a perspective in the aftermath of an event.

We very much deplore that it has come to the result, but we have to accept what the British

people has decided. It is Brexit. So how to deal with Brexit, how to give a perspective to the relationship between the EU

and the United Kingdom.

We propose to develop a continental partnership which is seen as a third circle around the

core, which is the Eurozone, then the EU, and then the third circle

is a continental partnership, which would not mean that the members of the third circle

share sovereignty. It would not be supranational, but it would consist of the coordination of different political areas,

like the economic freedoms, the freedom of good, services and capital, not including the free movement of workers.

It would include cooperation on security and foreign policy.

And by this, it would be an offer to all of the

European countries which are not members of the EU.

Right.

So if I may quote one of the opening lines of your report, you say, quote, in an increasingly

volatile world, neither the EU nor the UK have an interest in a divorce that diminishes their influence

as the balance of economy of power shifts away from the North Atlantic world. Therefore,

you're suggesting, therefore, that the tone and the atmosphere around the Brexit talks

will be generally speaking positive and constructive as opposed to rather more difficult?

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