The British government has a new best friend, and it won't let anyone else leave the playground before they've heard all about it. Since rolling out "the reddest of red carpets" for Angela Merkel last month, no further sign of the new British-German alliance has been allowed to pass without fanfare in London.  The German government's unveiling this week of national measures to curb "benefits tourism" was hailed by allies of David Cameron as a sign that the prime minister was "winning support" in Europe. Never mind that the German government also released a report that put the supposedly widespread abuse of the welfare system into perspective: Bulgarian and Romanians only make up 0.7% of benefits claimants in Germany.  Thursday saw another "major boost" for the UK government: a joint opinion piece by George Osborne and Wolfgang Schäuble in the Financial Times, promising fairness towards non-eurozone members as the rest of the EU moves towards greater fiscal integration.  No one seemed to care that the German finance minister's description of Britain's role in the future EU as a "two-speed solution" was a direct contradiction of Cameron's demand in his Bloomberg speech in 2012 : "Let's stop all this talk of two-speed Europe".  But when you're desperate to make new friends, even a kick in the shins can feel like a statement of support.  In Berlin, the Brits' excessively positive spin on any Anglo-German parallel and interaction has until now been mainly viewed with a mix of bemusement and exasperation. "We've certainly learnt that the British press is … different," said one official ahead of Merkel's London visit last month, with a sarcastic pause. The chancellor's opening words, trying to deflate expectations, were unusually direct for her style of public speaking.  But some see a genuine change of dynamism behind the posturing. "Of course Britain keeps on over-spinning", said Hans Kundnani of the European Council on Foreign Relations. "But there has been a real shift in the German position recently. A year ago, the message used to be that Germany couldn't give Britain any concessions whatsoever. Now politicians in Berlin recognise that they can actually influence the British position on Europe too, and they are carefully sifting through what concessions they could make without upsetting other member states."  "To us Germans, Europe has a different raison d'être, it's not just a free-trade area yielding economic benefits. Europe isn't just about business," said foreign minister Michael Roth at Friday's Anglo-German Königswinter conference in Cambridge. In the past, German politicians used to sound less combative about the option of Brexit.  Schäuble's assurance that eurozone states won't put non-euro members at a "systematic disadvantage" may just be a bromide. After all, no politician would ever dare state the opposite, and Roth specifically ruled out giving Britain "red card" veto rights against future banking regulation. Yet Merkel has made similar assurances in the past, and it seems feasible Germany could help Britain to lower the threshold for blocking minorities.  That would require Britain to seek new alliances in the future. But the joint opinion piece may be a sign that Cameron and co are getting better at them. "From a German perspective, Britain has definitely polished its act recently," said Nicolai von Ondarza, a senior associate at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs.  "Westminster is no longer fielding absolute demands for a complete renegotiation of the treaties, but seems to focus on the kind of policy areas that can be discussed with all 28 member states, such as making Europe more competitive."  While Germany may be keener on focused, incremental amendments than radical treaty overhaul, many in the government feel that such changes are urgent, veteran pro-European Schäuble being one of them: "The debate about modifying treaties will be back on the table after the European parliamentary elections," he told Handelsblatt this week.  For Germany, the pressure to get things moving in Brussels may currently be greater than for Britain. In the light of that, walking in the shadow of the new best friend doesn't seem such a stupid tactic.
With German plans to curb 'benefit tourism' and Osborne writing about EU fairness with Schäuble relations appear to be warming