German business chiefs warn of ‘political ill will’ towards Britain over trade and say ‘hard’ Brexit is the only option
Boss tells Theresa May to drop any hopes of striking a deal to keep British firms in the EU’s single market
GERMAN business chiefs have told Theresa May to drop any hopes of striking a deal to keep British firms in the EU’s single market.
Warning of the “political ill will” towards Britain, Markus Kerber, the head of the BDI lobby group, said he believed a ‘hard’ Brexit was the only option for the UK Government.
He said that trying to strike a deal to remain in the single market while taking back control of UK borders would result in a “fudge” and more uncertainty.
The blast came as Italian PM Matteo Renzi branded the Brexit vote a “bad decision” – and said it would be “impossible” to give Britain a deal that handed them more rights than others in the EU.
Mr Kerber said: “If British decision makers look very hard at what it is that they want, and what it will be that they get, then there is no other option other than the hard Brexit.
“It’s better to have a hard Brexit that works than to have a fudge in the middle that may have to be renegotiated or doesn’t politically work.”
He conceded a Hard Brexit could hit German companies as Britain takes 7.5 per cent of German exports.
But he said: “Well 7.5 per cent is a big number, but 92.5 per cent goes somewhere else.
“The vast majority goes to other European countries.
“So as much as we would like to uphold our very good relations with British customers it is extremely important for us not to alienate other European markets.”
Earlier this summer, Markus Kerber warned the EU that slapping trade barriers on Britain after the bombshell Brexit vote would be “foolish”.
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Two months ago he added that “we should not talk about punishing people, if we don’t know that we might be punished ourselves”.
Speaking separately yesterday, Italy’s Prime Minister Mr Renzi insisted he “tried” to keep the UK in the EU.
He insisted it would be “impossible” to give British people more rights than the other people outside the EU.
But he hinted there could be flexibility when it comes to a trade-off between access to the single market and free movement.
He said: “When the UK decides the opening of Article 50 we will discuss about this,” he said.
He blamed Brexit on David Cameron’s decision to hold a Referendum to solve the internal problems of the Conservative party.
He said: “The problem was one problem.
“When David Cameron decided to use the referendum to solve the internal problems of the Conservative Party, this was the problem.
“We cannot use foreign affairs to solve internal problems.”