Germany's federal president Horst Köhler called on the British people on Thursday to drop their "stereotypical" and "negative" views of Germany, in comments that look likely to revive debate on problems in British/German relations.

His comments, coming only days after the 60th anniversary of the end of the second world war, follow a German government decision to withdraw financial support from a leading German-British institute promoting bilateral economic and social research, in order to increase funding for youth exchanges between the two countries.