‘We NEED Britain’ Germany admits it CAN’T punish UK with harsh Brexit deal
GERMANY has admitted it can’t punish Britain following Brexit, despite calls from others in the European Union for a harsh exit deal.
Europe needs the UK, Germany admitted today
The country’s foreign minister yesterday conceded Germany and other states “need Britain” - whether the country is in or out of the bloc.
Sigmar Gabriel said Brussels should “resist the temptation” to play hard ball with UK during the two years of negotiations once Prime Minister Theresa May activates Article 50.
He said yesterday: “We should resist the temptation to treat Britain overly harshly, not out of pity, but in our own interest.
"We need Britain, for example, as a partner in security policy, and I'm also convinced that Britain needs us."
He said Eurocrats needed to “respect” Brexit - even if they “regret” the referendum result.
German foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel said Brussels should not be "harsh" with the UK
It comes after Theresa May warned Brussels she would rather quit the EU without any trade deals in place than get forced to accept bad deals.
The PM said: “No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain.
"There are some voices calling for a punitive deal that punishes Britain and discourages other countries from taking the same pat,.
"Britain would not - indeed we could not - accept such an approach."
And last year a think tank revealed nearly six million jobs in Europe are linked to trade with the UK, emphasising the extent to which the union depends the country.
Civets found 5.8 million people relied on British trade, with all but five of the other 27 EU members having more jobs riding on exports to Britain than Britain has on exports to those countries.
Theresa May told EU leaders last month they should not attempt to bully the UK
Civitas research fellow Justin Protts, who conducted the analysis, said: "Each of the remaining EU countries has a higher proportion of their workforce employed in jobs that rely on UK trade than the UK has with that EU country.
"Based on the potential impact on jobs, each EU country should be aware of the significant economic benefit in terms of jobs stemming from trade with the UK."