(Reuters) – Germany will continue to push to seal a new partnership agreement with Britain by the end of the year but the European Union should prepare for an abrupt split of ties from 2021, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday.
“Progress in negotiations thus far has been slim, to put it diplomatically,” Merkel told the European Parliament as Germany assumed the EU’s rotating presidency for the rest of the year.
“We have agreed with the UK to accelerate the pace of the talks … I will continue to push for a good solution but we should also prepare for a possibility of a no-deal scenario.”
(Reporting by Berlin Newsroom, Writing by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Alison Williams)
