Here I am at the edge

 Nobody to recall the years before we joined the EEC/EU it's disconcerting to think when this generation passes, there will be nobody left who can recall the British Empire before we joined the EEC (European Economic Community), which became the EU (European Union). Call it what you like, the bottom line is still the same; the aim was/is to support an economic support for Germany , not that it matter that the UK , and the USA have been doing that since 1918, n one way or another. Yes, that is true, in 1919 a lend-lease was initiated to halt the threat of Communism ; then after WW2 , the Marshall Plan was put into action with the same aim. So, when Germany goes on about paying for Brexit , recall, if it wasn't for the US, and the UK; East Germany , as it was, would have spread to the western part of Germany.