German leaders yesterday stepped up the pressure on Britain’s incoming prime minister Theresa May by demanding she swiftly spell out when she will launch divorce proceedings with the European Union.
“The task of the new prime minister...will be to get clarity on the question of what kind of relationship Britain wants to build with the European Union,” Chancellor Angela Merkel told a news conference.
Her finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said clarity was needed quickly to limit uncertainty after Britain’s shock choice for ‘Brexit’, which has rocked the 28-nation bloc and thrown decades of European integration into reverse.
May, 59, will today replace David Cameron, who is resigning after Britons rejected his advice and voted on June 23 to quit the EU.
The German leaders spoke after May’s ally Chris Grayling appeared to dampen any hopes among Britain’s EU partners that her rapid ascent might accelerate the process of moving ahead with the split and resolving the uncertainty hanging over the 28-nation bloc.
Grayling, the Leader of the House of Commons, said there was no hurry to invoke Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which will formally launch the process of separation and start the clock ticking on a two-year countdown to Britain’s actual departure.
“I think Article 50 should be triggered when we’re ready. The most important thing right now is we do what’s in our national interest,” Grayling told Sky News.
From Brussels, European finance chiefs yesterday urged May to accelerate the country’s timetable for Brexit, warning a delay could affect business confidence.
Jean-Claude Juncker’s spokesman insisted that the European commission chief and former Luxembourg PM “can cope” with negotiations with May, who has been touted in London as a “bloody difficult woman.”
In the latest moves to put pressure on Britain, European Commission economy chief Pierre Moscovici said May should trigger her country’s divorce from the EU as soon as possible after she takes office today.
“The Conservative party went fast.(Prime Minister) David Cameron was supposed to be replaced in September, we are only July, so why lose those two months?” asked Moscovici, who is France’s representative in the Commission.
“It’s possible that the process of the discussion with the European Union also accelerates. That’s what I think a lot of people expect and hope and call for,” he told reporters as he entered talks with the EU’s finance ministers.
“It is important the political process can be accelerated in the UK so uncertainty can be lifted,” Moscovici added.
Moscovici a day earlier warned that the negative effects of Brexit could knock growth significantly lower in Britain, as well as the EU and eurozone.
French Finance Minister Michel Sapin also urged May to hurry up following Britain’s June 23 vote to leave the EU and said Paris would be “demanding”.
“One of Europe’s problems is the slow process of this decision. They must be very concrete and advance more quickly — that would be the best answer to Brexit,” Sapin said.
“Against the British, it could be a rough confrontation. We French will be one of the most demanding countries,” he said, especially regarding the City of London’s financial district’s ability to trade in euros.
Sapin hit out at Britain’s “total lack of preparation” for Brexit and “lack of understanding of the mechanisms”.
Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the Dutch finance minister, said markets were worried about “uncertainty”.
“So I would say it is in the UK’s interest to get clarity as soon as possible on its future relations (with the EU),” he added.
EU leaders have refused to negotiate on trade and other ties after Brexit until Britain formally triggers Article 50 but May says she will not do this until next year at the earliest.
Meanwhile, Juncker’s spokesman Margaritis Schinas joked that the Commission chief would not quail at being opposite May at the Brexit negotiating table.
Schinas referred indirectly to the phrase “a bloody difficult woman,” used last week by senior British conservative Kenneth Clarke to describe May.
The incoming prime minister reportedly told British MPs, “The next person to find that out will be Jean-Claude Juncker.”
“The famous sentence you attribute to the new British prime minister was sort of humorous,” said Schinas.
“So I will answer in the same vein — I’m sure Jean-Claude Juncker can cope.”
Merkel ... seeking calm jittery markets
