| School trips have a kind of magic: Collectively hiding away in a new place, removed from parental influence, can do wonders for group dynamics, weld cool kids and nerds together, and spark moments of unlikely chemistry. The government-level equivalents are no different. In the magic of cabinet retreats, prime ministers and presidents confide. At the peak of Britain’s Brexit blockade, Theresa May invited her secretaries to Chequers, the prime minister’s countryside residence, to work out the infamous Chequers plan. The need to “anticipate the risks of the summer” is enough for France’s Elisabeth Borne to hold a cabinet workshop at Hotel Matignot. Chequers and Matignot are surely no hostels. But the recipe is the same as with school trips, albeit with fewer bunk beds and soggy dinners: shield ministers from nagging stakeholders, create a cosy siege mentality, perhaps even a sprinkle of late-night gossip, and the ministers will start to bond. Few governments have institutionalised the idea of cabinet retreats as much as Germany’s coalition government has. The “traffic-light” coalition of SPD, FPD, and the Greens meets every six months for a two-day “workation”. The latest edition is in full swing as of Tuesday morning, held at Meseberg Castle, the government’s official guest house, an hour from Berlin. German governments have always been fond of the stuffy, middlebrow charm of team-building trips. | 