We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again.

Speaking at an event organised by the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin today, the outgoing leader of the Christian Democratic Union argued that countries should be prepared to make concessions in an “orderly procedure”.

She said parliaments should make the decision to sign such contracts, reports German news channel Welt.

Mrs Merkel, who last month announced she was controversially stepping down as leader of her party but not as Chancellor of Germany despite previously saying the two roles go hand in glove, said ceding power to a superstate is a better form of patriotism.

She told the event, titled ‘Parliamentarianism Between Globalisation and National Sovereignty’: "In this day nation states must today - should today, I say - be ready to give up sovereignty.