Politico — EU doesn’t want to punish Britain but needs to prevent others from following it out the door, Germany’s FM said. It would appear the the EU would prefer to keep Europe together by making it it as hard as possible on Britain and strike fear of economic failure into the harts of the remaining 27 rather than trying to address the problems and concerns of the members and turn more towards policies for growth, prosperity, employment and solidarity the european leaders are only too happy to subscribe but abandon under pressure from the powerful German finance minister.
It is important to minimize damage to both sides during Brexit negotiations, but that’s going to be difficult given the two-year timeframe, Germany Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble said in an interview with local newspaper Osnabrücker Zeitung, published Friday.
“We want to keep the Brits close but there are no rights without obligations,” Schäuble said. He added that the bloc did not want to punish the U.K., given that would hurt both parties, “But it is of course important that we keep the rest of the EU together.”
“This will be a learning process, especially for the British,” Schäuble said. “They have their big financial center in London, but they will not keep access to the EU market as they used to have it if they do not accept the rules of the European area.”
