Influential German MEP Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, said that he no longer cares about the interests of the city of London.
When asked by the BBC about a tweet he posted, in which he said, “only the interests of the remaining 440 million Europeans count for us”, Manfred Weber stated: “I don’t care anymore about the city of London’s interests. I will care about Amsterdam and Dublin and Frankfurt am Main and Paris.”
EU has done everything to keep the British. From now on, only the interests of the remaining 440 million Europeans count for us. #BrexitDay
— Manfred Weber (@ManfredWeber) 29 de marzo de 2017
“That is what I have to do, and the negotiations will be very tough,” he added.
“I hear every day that you want to stay in the research union. You want to stay as close as possible to the single market. You want to stay in Europol together,” Weber said.
“Theresa May, please tell me what leaving the European Union means.”
Weber warned that Britain will find it difficult to thrive outside the EU because of the globalised world we now live in.
He said: “I cannot imagine how Great Britain with 60 million inhabitants can really compete in a globalised world with China.
“When you have for example, the steel dumping China is doing at the moment, that you can really defend your industry alone. 500 million EU citizens could do so and can do so, but Brits alone not.
“So I think Britain is facing a lot of uncertainty in the future.”
Mr Weber’s comments were made as politicians across Europe reacted to Britain’s triggering of Article 50 – the formal process of leaving the EU.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s response to triggering Article 50 was less bitter, and more pragmatic.
She said that Germany, along with other EU member states, “certainly didn’t want this day to come, because we’re losing a strong and important member state.
“But naturally we accept the democratic decision of the British voters.”