'A kind of polite bully'? (Germany, Italy, France, England, & Canada)
Germany sat bent over an issue of the New York Times America had handed to him. Suddenly, he looked up and asked: 'Am I a bully?'
'Vee~?' Italy looked at him in confusion.
'This article says, European countries with financial difficulties think I am "a kind of polite bully"', explained Germany. 'I was wondering if …'
'Yes', France said bluntly. 'You are a polite bully. Especially that Chancellor Merkel of yours!'
'Noo, Germany's no bully!', Italy objected. 'Germany's a really, really nice country!'
'I don't think he is a bully, either', England tossed in. 'In my opinion, it is the European Union as such …'
'You just don't want to pay more money to the EU, because your economy is stronger than expected!', France ranted. 'Where's your handbag, anyway?'
'I don't have a handbag, you twat!'
…
Canada sighed and wondered when their G7 meeting would finally start. Usually, it was Germany who stopped the quarrels of the others, but of course, this only worked if he was not in the midst of a quarrel himself …
—
Notes:
The quotation is taken from the article 'Berlin After the Wall: A Microcosm of the World's Chaotic Change' by Michael Kimmelman in The New York Times (18 November 2014).
France's allusion to the handbag refers to the way in which British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) demanded a reduction of Great Britain's payments to the European Community (today's EU) in 1984: She used 'I want my money back' as her motto for this so-called 'UK rebate' while fidgeted with her handbag.