German Chancellor Angela Merkel Terrified the EU will Collapse After Brexit

By Julian Robertson 

Angela Merkel has said the EU needs to stop other countries following Britain out of the door amid market fears that the bloc is ‘no longer governable’ after Brexit.

The German Chancellor told her conservative party board in a conference call that it was necessary to prevent other European Union members going down the same path as Britain.

Merkel is also said to have revealed that international financial markets are concerned the EU is ‘no longer governable’ in the wake of Britain’s exit vote.

She added that it was not the right time to pursue a quick deepening of cooperation between euro zone member states.

The EU should instead act on popular concerns such as securing the bloc’s borders, creating jobs and improve internal security, she said.

Her comments were reported by two sources who took part in a telephone conference of the board of the Christian Democratic Union.

A German government spokesman said today there will be no informal discussions between Britain and the European Union before the British government has invoked formal divorce proceedings.

Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, said the UK first needed to make the formal Article 50 request – the legal mechanism for the withdrawal of a member state from the EU.

‘One thing is clear: before Britain has sent this request there will be no informal preliminary talks about the modalities of leaving,’ he said.

‘Only when Britain has made the request according to Article 50 will the European Council draw up guidelines in consensus for an exit agreement,’ he added.

Guenther Oettinger, a German member of the EU’s executive European Commission, also issued a warning.

‘Every day of uncertainty prevents investors from putting their funds into Britain, and also other European markets,’ he told Deutschlandfunk radio. ‘Cameron and his party will cause damage if they wait until October.’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has taken a softer line. She says she will not battle now over the timeframe and has underlined the need to continue a positive trade relationship with Britain, a big market for German carmakers and other manufacturers.

But a Merkel ally, Volker Kauder, made clear the exit negotiations would not be easy. ‘There will be no special treatment, there will be no gifts,’ Kauder, who leads Merkel’s conservatives in parliament, told ARD television.

H/T – DailyMail