German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker | Tobias Schwarz/AFP via Getty Images
Merkel ‘angry’ with Juncker’s Brexit antics
Reports of a dinner attended by Theresa May and Jean-Claude Juncker described it as disastrous.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is angry with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker for allowing details of a tense dinner with the British Prime Minister Theresa May to come to light, Der Spiegel reported Saturday.
Juncker’s confrontational April 26 dinner with May on Brexit, reports of which have since been aired in the press, triggered a rapid deterioration in relations between London and Brussels this week, with May accusing Brussels of leaking the details to influence the U.K. elections.
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Reports of the dinner describe it as disastrous and revealing deep divisions between the two leaders over issues as diverse as the U.K.’s financial obligations to the European Union and a post-Brexit trade deal.
Publication of the details caused a heated diplomatic spat, with May accusing the Commission of trying to interfere in the British elections and Juncker saying Friday that the English language was “losing importance” in Europe.
Der Spiegel reported that officials in Berlin widely assume the leaked details came straight from the top of the Commission.
German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported that Juncker’s last words to May were: “I’m leaving Downing Street 10 times more skeptical than I was before,” prompting fears that the coming Brexit negotiations are doomed to fail.
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