"In Germany it's usually the other way around:"

Germany is one of most wealthy, powerful and biggest contributors to the EU budget. They can't be bullied round easily.

"We regularly have headlines about how we might have to pay fines to the EU"

The state controls the media... a lot of headlines are orchestrated. But it is done so well, unless you know, you don't know...

Where Germany doesn't agree, it has sway. Where Germany and France don't agree, it is unlikely, and where Germany, France and Italy don't agree it's not going to happen as some countries matter more than others.

Sure, but all of those used to be true of the UK too back when they were in the EU, and yet they had the good cop/bad cop roles swapped compared to Germany