Merkel aide scorned over Brexit fear for UK
ANGELA Merkel’s chief of staff was yesterday criticised by a leading British politician for claiming that Brexit will be a “severe loss” for the UK.
The German Chancellor’s right-hand man, Peter Altmaier – dubbed “the most powerful man in Berlin” – told an audience in Lindau, Germany, that the only hope for both sides lay in damage limitation.
Conservative MEP David Campbell Bannerman responded: “That is a dumb comment from a clever person.”
Noting that Mr Altmaier was addressing Nobel Science Prize winners, the MEP cited the British discoverers of, and pioneers in, gravity, electricity, penicillin, computers, steam power and rail. “Lack of EU membership did not trouble Newton, Faraday, Fleming, Turing, Watt, Stephenson or other fearless inventors,” he said.
“British inventiveness did not begin with a European Union grant.”
Lawyers
Mr Altmaier told the meeting: “When we see the preparations for the Brexit talks in Brussels and how difficult it is for our friends in the UK to establish their national interest and their negotiation papers, we can see this will mean a severe loss, not only for the UK but also for the EU.”
The self-confessed Anglophile added: “When one of my colleagues from the British Government went to Berlin in January and told me, ‘Peter, let’s try to make a win-win situation out of this mess’, I said, ‘Yes, but can you imagine when you have a couple – man and wife, and two children, the house, the boat, the car – they are married for 30 years, and then they are going to divorce?’
“Can you imagine how to make a win-win situation out of that mess? It will be win-win for the lawyers, of course, but certainly not for the family concerned.”
He warned Britain could end up impotent from a deal to provide access to the EU single market, while not belonging to it.