BERLIN — It took less than 24 hours for Brexit to disappear from Germany’s front pages.

The morning after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May formally informed the European Union that her country was headed for the door, every British tabloid led with the story under banner headlines. In Germany, meanwhile, the largest-selling daily Bild featured a famous German comedian announcing plans for a civil union with his longtime boyfriend.

It wasn’t just the front pages — in the Bundestag, a debate last week about Brexit was sparsely attended and received little media coverage. “The mood here,” said Jens Zimmermann, an MP, “is different.”

Or make that indifferent — at least when it comes to the messages from London. As the rhetoric in Britain careens into overdrive — invasion of Gibraltar, anyone? — the Germans remain Germanically impassionate, unimpressed by what were perceived as poorly veiled threats regarding security and trade.

In Berlin, officials say that, as negotiations begin, they have the upper hand. Brexit may have some limited economic impact on Germany, but the consequences for the U.K. could be far more devastating. And Berlin is sticking to its hard line that doing what it thinks is needed to keep the EU from disintegrating is far more important to its long-term interests than anything it might gain economically by bending to British pressure on trade.

German officials including Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble delivered that message to Philip Hammond, chancellor of the exchequer, last week. Just hours after the U.K. triggered Article 50, Hammond flew to Germany, where he was joined by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, to lobby German officials. But they received little encouragement.

Primitive blackmail attempts

In her letter triggering Article 50 last week, May wrote that a failure to reach an agreement on Brexit “would mean our cooperation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened” — language the Germans didn’t appreciate. Detlef Seif, a conservative lawmaker, called it “an extraordinarily primitive attempt at blackmailing us.”

High-ranking German politicians believe Westminster has overestimated its negotiation position in the upcoming talks. “They pretend to hold jokers in their hands,” said a government official on condition of anonymity. “This doesn’t seem very plausible, considering they already have to play the terrorism card.”

For the current leadership in Brussels and Berlin, the principle of free trade and free movement is indivisible — take both or take none. The U.K. wants access to the market but without free movement and has argued that Berlin will come around to the British side on this because of Germany’s large trade surplus with the U.K.

“We’ve heard [German Chancellor Angela] Merkel take a fairly emollient line,” the Conservative MP John Redwood said after the Brexit vote. “She is only too well aware that German industry is saying to her, ‘For goodness sake do not end up with tariffs and barriers in the way of our very substantial exports to the United Kingdom market.’”

London may be getting ahead of itself. German businesses leaders appear to be behind Merkel when it comes to the integrity of the European Union’s single market. “On the idea that German business might soften the German government’s stance: You can cross that off your list,” is how a German diplomat put it.

The support for the EU from German business executives may not be all that surprising. The union, after all, has greatly benefitted German manufacturers, making it easier for them to access supplies, workers and consumers.

“The EU27 has decided to represent its interests together. From now on, London fights on its own” — Cem Özdemir, head of the opposition Green Party

One economic adviser to the German parliament described the Brexit talks as a “game with no winner” but said Britain will suffer most — a view shared by many politicians and business leaders in Berlin.

“Companies are aware that the U.K.’s withdrawal from the internal market will represent a severe setback and that cherry-picking concessions would hurt the internal market,” said the conclusion from a trade association report last month that surveyed about 2,200 companies.

While Britain is Germany’s third-largest market for exports, Berlin is quick to point out that the British economy also depends on German companies, which currently employ almost 400,000 workers in Britain. And many of those German companies are already pivoting away from the U.K. According to numbers released by DIHK business association, almost one in every 10 German companies is planning to shift investment away from the U.K. to Germany or other EU countries.

The message from German politicians are trying to send is: The country stands united with the rest of Europe — with access to all the benefits of the free market.

“One is leaving — but 27 are staying,” said Cem Özdemir, head of the opposition Green Party, during the parliamentary debate last week. “The EU27 has decided to represent its interests together. From now on, London fights on its own.”

Sweet-talk falls on deaf ears

Since June, when the U.K. voted to leave the European Union, British government officials have swarmed out in Berlin’s Regierungsviertel, or government district, in an effort to lobby the Germans. So far the sweet-talking appears to have had little effect.

“The Brits have the best diplomatic corps in the world,” said a member of the German parliament. “Most of what they do is come in, smile and act friendly. But they don’t say anything of substance.”

Other Germans complain that the Brits give conflicting messages or show a marked lack of expertise when it comes to trade.

“They draw triangles on the wall and speak about a ‘hard Brexit’ and a ‘soft Brexit,’” said a German business representative. “But they don’t really seem to know what they’re doing.”

On Tuesday, Prime Minister May insisted in an interview with Sky News that the U.K. can strike the basis for a deal with the EU within two years, despite warnings from European leaders that the timescale may be too tight.

“May is, once again, raising vast expectations,” said one German official, on condition of anonymity. “The Brits are essentially changing their mind every day,” he added.

The world doesn’t revolve around Britain

The great advantage Merkel has over May is that the German chancellor has to deal with little public pressure — neither from the opposition, which broadly agrees with her on Brexit, nor from the general public.

In Germany, 95 percent of the population support further European integration, and Germans have been flabbergasted that the Brits would vote to leave the union.

Hours after May filed the papers for the U.K.’s divorce, Merkel stood up to give a speech during a conference on innovation. She felt very sorry about losing an EU member, she said. “The topic of today, however, is ‘courage for the future,’” she continued, quickly changing into her prepared speech. “It’s the capability of being innovative which will decide our fate.”

“We, here, are understandably and rightly obsessing about it. But it’s not the thing that’s top of their agenda. The world doesn’t revolve around us” — Liz Kendall, British Labour MP

The chancellor’s message to the U.K. echoed the consensus in Berlin: “We’re sorry you’re leaving — but you’ll be sorrier.” Across party lines, German politicians agree that, at the end of the Brexit negotiations, the U.K. shouldn’t be awarded the full benefits of EU membership without actual membership.

For the Germans, Brexit talks won’t be about rhetoric but realpolitik. For the Brits, for whom Brexit has prompted existential angst over the nation’s fate, that may be hard to understand.

“When you’re doing a negotiation ... you also have to understand the priorities of your partners, and I’m afraid we’ve got a collective failure to do that at the moment,” said Liz Kendall, a British Labour MP, who visited Berlin last month to meet with German government officials.

“Brexit actually isn’t a massive priority for [the Germans],” she added. “We, here, are understandably and rightly obsessing about it. But it’s not the thing that’s top of their agenda. The world doesn’t revolve around us.”

Charlie Cooper in London and Matthew Karnitschnig contributed reporting.