(Reuters) — There is no desperate rush for Britain to trigger the process for it to leave the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday (June 25), leaving London some space to work out its next move after a referendum vote to leave the bloc.
“Great Britain must for themselves define — and surely there will also a discussion process — what relationship it wants to have with the European Union. We will sit together as 27 and see if it’s tenable, from our point of view and according to our interests. And there is absolutely no reason to handle this without being sensible,” Merkel told a news conference at a meeting of her party outside Berlin.
German officials said on Friday that the 27 countries left in the European Union after Britain’s vote to leave should refrain from taking revenge, but focus on building consensus in areas such as security, migration and economic growth.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told the ZDF television station there was hard work ahead negotiating the terms of Britain’s exit, but European leaders were committed to charting a new course that tackled high rates of youth unemployment and other issues raised through the UK referendum.
Steinmeier said he told EU foreign ministers at a meeting in Luxembourg on Friday to focus on rebuilding a strong Europe, not hashing through differences with Britain.
