Britain 'sorely needed' in EU, says German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble Britain is an important partner in the European Union ... Britain has to some extent other ideas [about Europe], it does not want such close integration. But from the German perspective, from the point of view of our interests it is an important member of the EU," she said. They [the British] are for free trade, for greater competitiveness, so they are a very good partner. Berlin has long valued London's free-marketeering influence in the EU as a counterweight to France and other states that take a more protectionist line and favour state intervention in industry. But Germany, the EU's biggest economy, has grown increasingly frustrated with the Eurosceptical instincts of Cameron and the bulk of his Conservative lawmakers. To Berlin's dismay, Mr Cameron has signalled he wants to use the eurozone crisis and the moves it has fostered towards much closer integration between the area's 17 member states to negotiate a much looser relationship between Britain - which does not have the euro - and the EU. Last Tuesday Mr Hague told his hosts in Berlin that public disillusionment in Britain with the EU was "the deepest it has ever been" and he rebuffed pleas from Germany and Finland to join a pan-European banking union and push for more joint EU foreign and defence policy. Europe is also good for Britain ... I fear this is not always recognised," Mr Schaeuble said in Oxford on Monday. Among those listening to his speech was Chris Patten, a former British EU commissioner and one of a dwindling band of prominent pro-European Conservatives. Mr Patten is now chancellor of Oxford University and is no longer politically active.