Germans Strongly Back EU Membership, Oppose Referendum

The comments reflected the European line that has been crystallizing since Britons voted Thursday to take their country out of the bloc-that while Britain shouldn’t be rushed, uncertainty about its plans couldn’t persist much beyond when a new United Kingdom leader is expected to be in place.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Saturday said the European Union has “has no reason to be nasty in the negotiations ” with Britain about its exit from the bloc.

Global stock markets plunged on Friday, and sterling saw its biggest one day drop in more than 30 years after the British vote to leave the EU.

Germany has said it will not negotiate with Britain about its future relationship with the European Union until prime minister David Cameron, or his successor, begins to decouple Britain from the bloc by triggering Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

However Merkel, who looked likely to take the lead in future talks, was more cautious, saying it was up to Britain to decide when to begin withdrawal proceedings, although they should not “drag on forever”.

Several leading figures in the Vote Leave campaign have said informal talks must precede any formal triggering of the two-year article 50 time limit.

Her chief of staff, Peter Altmaier, said politicians in Britain should “take the time to reconsider the consequences of the Brexit decision – but by that I emphatically do not mean Brexit itself”.

With the referendum decision finally made on Thursday and Prime Minister David Cameron having announced his resignation, European politicians and institutions felt free to shower demands on Britain over its future outside the world’s largest trading bloc.

Mrs Merkel added that while it was understandable that Britain needed time before triggering its exit from the European Union, she warned against dragging the process out.

President Klaus Iohannis, in Brussels for a meeting of European Union leaders, said Wednesday he had “received assurances from Premier Cameron in the name of Great Britain. that Romanians will be able to remain, and will be able to work, and he apologized for incidents that happened there”.

Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome that he would resign his office by October and leave the Brexit negotiations to his successor. But in industries where London’s dominance crowds out German competitors, and where firms’ choice to locate there is influenced by Britain’s access to the single market and skilled workers from the continent, German players are already sniffing opportunity.

She has also confirmed a second Scottish independence referendum was back on the table.

Britain should invoke the mechanism as soon as next Tuesday, when European leaders gather for the European Council meeting in Brussels, Mr. Schulz told German weekly Bild am Sonntag.

“We can’t have a permanent impasse”, Mrs Merkel said. “Before then there will be no informal talks”. “They should be conducted in a rational way”, she said.

Merkel also said Britain must say what kind of relationship it wants with the European Union before the bloc examines how to respond. “I think that would not be good for either the EU’s 27 member states or Britain”.

The divisions also took their toll on the opposition Labour Party, whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn, sacked shadow foreign minister Hilary Benn on Sunday, media reported, after he said he would resist any attempt to oust him.

The Scottish don’t want to leave the EU.