Angela Merkel warns Brexit means ‘deep break’ in EU history

26/8/2016

By Henry Foy in Warsaw

Angela Merkel warned that Brexit represents a “deep break” in EU history, as the German chancellor continued her whirlwind diplomatic tour of Europe aimed at finding an elusive consensus on the future of the bloc following a British exit .

Ms Merkel, who has scheduled meetings with 15 EU leaders across five countries, is attempting to find common ground between member states that have erupted in disagreement since the UK’s vote for Brexit, ahead of a critical summit in Bratislava on September 16 to discuss the future direction of the union.

“Brexit is not just any event. It is a deep break in the EU’s history of integration, and so it is important to find a careful answer,” said Ms Merkel in Warsaw. “We must face the consequences [of Brexit] and consider the future of the EU. Citizens will only accept the EU if it makes it possible for them to prosper.”

Europe’s most influential politician met with the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic in Warsaw on Friday, before flying to Berlin for a meeting with northern countries Denmark, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands.

On Saturday she will meet the leaders of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovenia, capping six days of diplomacy that began with a summit on a Mediterranean island with Italy’s Matteo Renzi and François Hollande of France, and trips to Estonia and Czech Republic.

It is “important to listen to each other in different formats,” Ms Merkel told fellow leaders in Warsaw. “Bratislava [summit] will not be the end but the beginning.”

Her desire to meet with eastern leaders is part of an effort to address the concerns of some countries that they might be excluded from post-Brexit planning by the EU’s old-established west European members.

At the same time, Alexis Tsipras, Greek prime minister, has called for a meeting of southern European countries in an attempt to form a consensus between them before the summit.

The Bratislava meeting, which will be the first gathering between all the 27 countries that will be left in the bloc after the UK leaves, looms large as a major test for EU unity. Since Britain’s vote in June to leave the union, a wave of condemnation aimed at Brussels by many in the east of the EU has laid bare the depth of the divides that first emerged during the debate over how best to handle the continent’s migrant crisis.

While older members such as France and Italy have urged the EU to push ahead with integration efforts following the Brexit vote, many newer members in the east, such as Poland and Hungary, have sought to blame Brussels for the referendum result, and called for the bloc’s federalists to abandon their plans and devolve more power to national capitals.

“We must learn the lessons from what happened in the UK,” said Beata Szydlo, Polish prime minister, as she stood with Ms Merkel. “We need to make the necessary changes demanded by today’s Europeans . . . so that [the EU] can function better.”

Ms Szydlo, whose rightwing government in Warsaw has been one of the most vocal critics of the European Commission and its president Jean-Claude Juncker's handling of the migrant crisis and its approach to the UK referendum, warned that if the EU continued as normal it would “tempt other countries” to leave the bloc.

“The expectations [for Bratislava] are high, but there are large differences of opinions,” said Robert Fico, the Slovakian prime minister who will host the summit as the holder of the EU’s rotating presidency.

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