I think I’ve posted this before on another thread, in the past, up until a year back I was living and working in Frankfurt and working very closely with quite a few Italians who had to come to Germany for work, with probably the same amount of Portuguese there too (similar story to the Italians).

In there own words their country is fecked, there is no work there hence why they were in Germany working for lower wages than they thought they were worth (exploited by the Germans in their words).

Their main gripe was the EU, they see their country as a gateway to Europe for immigrants, with one telling me that the immigrants were far better off financialy than his own mother who had worked their for most of her life, and he was very, very bitter about that.

They are bitter and want change of some sort, I was there when the referendum was on and I was asked a lot by the Italians and the Portuguese in particular which way I was going to vote. A lot of them said that if they had the chance they would vote to leave, they want their countries back.

It’s a shame as I can see what benefits the EU brings with living and working in Europe, yet they’re is something about being British and independent, there’s a strange welcoming feeling when driving back from Germany when you’re on the boat back and see the cliffs of Dover, I guess home is home when all is said and done.