EU leaders REJECT informal talks with the UK – saying negotiations over Britain’s future cannot take place until Article 50 is triggered

EU leaders have rejected the prospect of informal Brexit talks with the UK - saying negotiations over Britain’s future cannot take place until it officially triggers Article 50.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi took their defiant stance ahead of a Brexit crisis summit tomorrow.

"We are united that Article 50 must be activated and before this decision is taken no further steps can be taken," Merkel said with reference to the clause in the European Treaty that begins the process for a country to exit the bloc.

She was speaking at a joint news conference with French President Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Renzi in Berlin.

Europe is strong and solid even after Britain voted to leave the bloc's economic and political union, but needs to take a more "caring" approach in the future, Renzi said.

He added that no time should be wasted after the Brexit vote and that the opinion of the British public should be respected.

That view was hammered home by Hollande who said there is no time to waste organising Britain's exit from the EU and its aftermath.

"We must not lose time, neither for dealing in a suitable way with the question of the United Kingdom's exit, nor for providing a new impetus for the EU," he said at the news conference.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed fears that other countries could follow Britain in leaving the EU

The press conference came amid reports the French and German foreign ministers are set to reveal plans to scrap individual countries in favour of an EU superstate.

Radical blueprints have been drawn up effectively removing any individual state’s right to have their own army, criminal law, tax system or central bank, according to the Express.

Instead Brussels will control these powers, the newspaper reporter, claiming details of the nine-page plot had been leaked to Polish news channel TVP Info.

The plans will reportedly been presented at a meeting of of the Visegrad group of countries - made up of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia - later today.

Perhaps most controversially the details include member states losing control over their border - including any ability to kiit the number of refugee arrivals.

Earlier Merkel said that the EU must stop other countries leaving the union after Britain voted for a Brexit last week.

In a conference call with her conservative party she said that it was important to keep all the other countries within the EU.

She also told her party that the world’s financial markets worry that the EU is ‘no longer governable’ after Thursday’s vote.

Her words come after far right parties in France, Austria and the Netherlands all called for their own EU referendums on Friday morning.

In reaction, Merkel said that the Eurozone must work harder to cooperate.

But the chancellor has said that she will not hurry Britain to start formal proceedings as soon as possible.

She also emphasised that the EU must have a positive trade relationship with Britain.

Merkel said that she understands that Britain needs “a certain amount of time to analyse things”.

But she warns that it if the UK takes too long to make plans it would harm the EU.

Earlier today, the chancellor’s spokesman said that Britain would have no chance to have informal discussions before formal proceedings started.

Steffen Seibert said that Britain needs to invoke Article 50, the legal mechanism to start her withdrawal from Europe.

He said: “One thing is clear: before Britain has sent this request there will be no informal preliminary talks about the modalities of leaving.

“Only when Britain has made the request according to Article 50 will the European Council draw up guidelines in consensus for an exit agreement.”

Guenther Oettinger, a German member of the EU’s Executive European Commission said: “Every day of uncertainty prevents investors from putting their funds into Britain, and also other European markets.

He told Deutschlandfunk radio: “Cameron and his party will cause damage if they wait until October.”

Merkel ally Volker Kauder also told ARD television: “There will be no special treatment, there will be no gifts.”

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