Angela Merkel has significantly stiffened her rhetoric on Brexit, telling an audience of German business leaders that any exception to the EU’s single market rules would represent “a systemic challenge for the entire European Union”. [...]
The applause for Merkel’s comments put a further question mark over the argument of British pro-Brexit politicians that German businesses will inevitably pressure their government to preserve their trade links with the UK and resist tariffs.
Markus Kerber, the leader of Germany’s largest industry group, said last week that trade, investments and single market solidarity with the rest of the EU were more important than the volume of business German companies do with Britain. [...]
The tone of Merkel’s remarks in particular stands in sharp contrast to the conciliatory language coming out of Berlin in the immediate aftermath of the referendum, when leading politicians pleaded for London to be given more time to think through the consequences of the vote.
Jens Spahn, a senior member of her Christian Democrat Union party, confirmed the tough line, including no pre-negotiations before article 50 is triggered.
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