Brexit postcard from Brussels: Is Merkel heading for the door?
Sky's Darren McCaffrey reports from the EU capital, rounding up the main Brexit-related news of the day.
Wednesday 8 February 2017 18:22, UK
Welcome to my latest postcard from the EU capital.
Every day I'll bring you the latest Brexit-related news from a continental perspective.
:: A GERMAN SURPRISE, BREXIT TROUBLE
Martin Schulz, remember him? The former EU Parliament president is now the socialist candidate for Chancellor, standing against Merkel in Germany.
But is the outsider in with a chance?
A survey by the Forsa pollster for the German magazine Stern and television channel RTL revealed the centre-left Social Democrats improved their standing by five percentage points since last week to 31%.
The same poll found Schulz and Merkel were tied in their race for German chancellorship, each with 37% of respondents prepared to support them.
If Schulz wins, and it is a big if, could it spell trouble for Brexit? Unsurprisingly, he is very pro-European, possibly making our negotiations that much trickier.
:: DUBLIN, EUROPE'S FINANCIAL POWERHOUSE?
Almost a fifth of wholesale finance activity within the European Union could shift to Ireland after Brexit, a Brussels-based think tank has projected.
It would make Dublin a major European financial powerhouse.
London currently dominates the sector, which includes large-scale banking for other banks, large corporations and finance houses.
The Bruegel think tank said that although 2% of the EU's wholesale activity is currently in Ireland, versus 90% in the UK, this share could increase to between 15% and 18% once Britain leaves the EU.
:: DON'T LET US DOWN
The UK has a heavy, historic responsibility not to conduct the Brexit negotiations in such a way that it leads to the unravelling of Europe, according to Jean-Pierre Raffarin, the former French prime minister.
Raffarin, who is currently leading an inquiry into Brexit in the French parliament, said building a stronger Europe was needed to withstand populist forces.
"There is no future in the idea of a deconstruction of Europe and, because of that, this will be a very, very heavy responsibility for Great Britain. And this responsibility will be historic," he said.
"Brexit needs to be achieved without threatening the construction of Europe.
"The European public want a greater place for nations, for values … but they don't want the deconstruction of Europe.
"So it is therefore necessary to avoid Brexit equalling the deconstruction of Europe, because that will whip up public opinion, one against the other."
:: BREXIT: THE OPERA
Brexit's impact is undoubtedly going to be widely felt, now opera is getting in on the act.
Britain's opera companies have warned that their ability to call on star performers from the EU when ill health strikes will be affected.
Apparently, late substitutions are a regular feature in the opera world. All that voice strain can leave performers unwell.
But with only a small pool of replacement candidates available, fears have spread that performances might have to be cancelled if migration controls mean organisers are caught short.
Darren McCaffrey is back on Thursday. Follow him on Twitter: @DMcCaffrey