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30 March 2017

Bundeskanzlerin: The British and the EU should "remain close partners"


The Chancellor said that the German government will do all it can to ensure that the consequences of Brexit on EU citizens living in the United Kingdom are kept to a minimum.

German government is "well prepared"

"The German government has prepared itself well for this process and will obviously take a stance on all issues that are raised," reasserted Angela Merkel. "We, the European Union, will conduct the talks that lie ahead fairly and constructively," she added.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, she said, had assured her during a telephone conversation on Tuesday evening that the British government is approaching negotiations in the same spirit. "I would like to see the UK and the EU remain close partners," said the Chancellor, if only because we share common values. "On the basis of these values and fair rules we now aim to achieve a balance of rights and obligations."

"We need one another," says Sigmar Gabriel

Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Sigmar Gabriel also commented. "The United Kingdom remains our neighbour, just as the European Union remains the neighbour of the British. We need one another," he stressed. "We should do all we can to maintain good and cordial relations with London in future."

It is thus good "that the British have made it clear that they want to see a strong European Union". For Germany one clear point in negotiations will be "that the 27 EU member states stick together and that we not only preserve Europe’s greatest work of unity, but that we develop it and ensure that we are equipped to face storms in future too," underscored the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs.

Chancellor Merkel is certain that, "The European Union is a unique success story in history. It will remain so, even after the departure of the United Kingdom. We will ensure that."[...]

Full press release



© Bundeskanzlerin


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