EU referendum: Angela Merkel rules out informal Brexit talks with UK

German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaking at a news conference in Berlin
REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke
Hatty Collier27 June 2016
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel today ruled out talks on Brexit before the UK triggers the formal process of leaving the EU.

While accepting that Britain may need "a certain amount of time to analyse things" regarding its departure from the EU, she said it should not take "a long time".

Mrs Merkel said EU leaders will discuss how much time Britain needs when they meet tomorrow in Brussels.

Earlier, her spokesman insisted there cannot be informal talks on the conditions of Britain’s exit before the UK has filed formal notice of its intention to quit the 28-member bloc.

Steffen Seibert said: "One thing is clear: before Great Britain has sent this notification, there will be no informal preliminary talks about the exit modalities."

Prime Minister David Cameron indicated he plans to leave invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty, which would trigger formal negotiations, to his successor, who will be chosen in several months.

Mrs Merkel would not comment on whether she thought it was acceptable to wait until October.

She said she was neither putting her foot on the brake nor on the accelerator when it comes to Britain invoking Article 50.

"I have neither a brake nor an accelerator, rather I have the job of reflecting when this message arrives about how exactly we implement it," she told reporters at a conference in Berlin.

"We can't have a permanent impasse,” Mrs Merkel said.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in