Brexit | Merkel: Britain should hold no illusions exit will be easy

German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday sought to dash British hopes that its exit from the European Union will have only a limited impact on the relations, rights and privileges it now has.

Speaking to German lawmakers ahead of a weekend summit in Brussels to discuss the so-called Brexit, Merkel said to applause that she had “the feeling that some in Britain still have illusions, and that is a waste of time.”

While Europe still envisions Britain as a close partner, Merkel said once it leaves the EU it will be an outsider and as such “can and will not have the same rights or be in a better position than a member of the European Union.”

“All of the 27 members of the European Union and European institutions are agreed upon that,” she said, to applause.

Britain has two years to complete its deal to leave the 28-nation European Union but is currently preoccupied with a snap election taking place in early June.

Merkel said pressing issues like the treatment of citizens living in each other’s nations, the bill of remaining costs to be paid by Britain and border issues in Ireland need to be dealt with before a future relationship can even be discussed.

“Without progress on the many open questions of the exit, including the financial questions, it makes no sense to have parallel negotiations over the future relationship,” the chancellor said.

“We need to know how Britain sees its future relations with us,” she added.

She said Germany will push for the impact of Brexit on Germans and other EU citizens living in Britain to be as minimal as possible, and for cooperation on security issues, like fighting organized crime and terrorism, to remain close.

“Let there be no doubt: Brexit negotiations will demand a lot from Britain and Europe,” she said.

She added that Germany and other EU countries need to define their own “interests and goals,” and that she expects EU nations to emerge from the Brussels summit with a “strong signal of unity.”

EU officials at a meeting in Luxembourg said the EU nations formed a solid bloc and said little still needs to be agreed on in tough guidelines for their Brexit negotiators, which are to be approved at tomorrow’s summit.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said “we are ready, we are ready” as he entered the meeting.

The 27 European Union nations are heading into two years of divorce negotiations with Britain as a solid bloc, saying yesterday there is a large consensus on the tough guidelines for their Brexit negotiators which are to be approved at a weekend summit.

Often divided on key issues from refugees to the financial crisis, the EU nations said no major questions were left for the leaders during Saturday’s summit as the negotiations with Britain draw closer.

The EU’s chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said that “we are united” as he left the meeting of EU foreign and Europe ministers in Luxembourg.

“It was an unprecedented signal of trust, unity and consensus of the 27,” said Maltese Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, who chaired the meeting.

Britain has spent lots of time trying to bounce back from the shock referendum result in June. It had to form a new government and now faces a snap election on June 8, making sure that negotiations on Brexit will not start until nearly a year after the referendum.

Once the EU’s guidelines are approved tomorrow, the European Commission will pour them into a tight negotiating mandate for Barnier which should be ready May 22. Talks are expected to start sometime after the British elections, when a new government is formed.

The EU said pressing issues like the treatment of citizens living in each other’s nations, the bill of remaining costs to be paid by Britain and border issues in Ireland need to be dealt with before a future relationship can be discussed.

British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson immediately saw problems ahead. “If you’re saying that they want the money before they get any substantive talks, then that is obviously not going to happen,” he told the BBC.

Estimates for the British divorce bill go as high as 60 billion euros (USD65 billion). MDT/AP

UK leader meets top EU officials for Brexit working dinner

Britain’s prime minister took time out from her election campaign to meet the European Union’s chief Brexit negotiator and head of the bloc’s executive. Theresa May held a working dinner Wednesday [yesterday, Macau time] at 10 Downing St. with negotiator Michel Barnier and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker. May called a snap June 8 election last week, urging voters to give her Conservatives a bigger parliamentary majority to strengthen Britain’s hand in EU exit negotiations.