Germany warns Britain not to delay Brexit after court ruling

Germany warns Britain not to delay Brexit after court ruling

Germany’s foreign minister told his British counterpart Boris Johnson on Friday (November 4) that Europe would not give Britain an easy ride in Brexit talks, saying his priority was to keep the remaining 27 EU member states united.

“We’ll wait and see how the British positioning towards the application for the EU exit pans out,” Steinmeier said. “And then the negotiations should start as soon as possible. Preliminary negotiations I do not see.”

Johnson, a leading advocate of Britain leaving the European Union, struck a conciliatory note on his first visit to Berlin as foreign secretary, saying he thought Brexit could be a “win-win” for Britain and the EU.

But his host Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who has been outspoken in his criticism of Johnson and other Brexit campaigners in the past, delivered a frosty warning that Britain should not delay the start of exit talks and that London would not be allowed to cherry-pick in the negotiations.

“Our view is clear and we’ve said it before – we can’t talk about easing the conditions for access to the single market on the one hand and allowing Britain to reject those elements it sees as unattractive on the other.”

Johnson has irked the German government by dismissing as “baloney” the link between the EU’s core principle of free movement, which eurosceptics say makes it impossible to control immigration to Britain, and access to its tariff-free single market, which benefits British businesses. EU leaders have said repeatedly that Britain cannot have one without the other.

Johnson said the British government would stick with its plans to trigger divorce proceedings by the end of March despite a court ruling on Thursday that demands the government consult parliament before invoking Article 50 of the EU treaty to serve notice to its 27 partners.

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