BERLIN — For German chancellor Angela Merkel, politics is about dealing with reality. A hard Brexit is the path Theresa May has set Britain on – and that is what now needs to happen.



The thinking in Berlin is that Brexit is first and foremost a divorce proceeding. How the UK will depart the European Union and intends to untangle itself from the single market will need to be clear before diving into the substance of a trade negotiation. “We divorce first, and then we figure out how to put things back together,” a source close to government circles told BuzzFeed News.

This will not mean going through each and every one among thousands of norms in the early stages of talks; there are aspects of Britain’s exit that are inevitably dependant on the shape of the future relationship. But before such negotiations can begin in earnest, there needs to be clarity over withdrawal plans, as well as assurances that these are grounded in a solid legal footing and timeframe.

Brexit is mostly described by Berlin as a lose-lose that damages the UK, Germany, and the rest of the EU. Still, however deplorable, it is a reality that has to be dealt with.

Among the officials BuzzFeed News talked to in Germany's capital, there is no desire to punish the UK. There is instead the will to continue cooperating, and to remain friends. "The UK is not leaving Europe, but Britain will not be in the EU, and the EU is the priority," the source said.

Keeping the EU together, and the remaining 27 member states united, is what is most important to Merkel. It is the guiding principle upon which the chancellor will not compromise.

“Unity among the 27 is paramount,” Olaf Wientzek of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, a think tank close to Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), told BuzzFeed News. "Germany will not budge on this. We will work with the other 26 member states to move forward together, and we will be careful to avoid any attempt to divide member states through bilateral approaches."

Merkel has the backing of the vast majority of the German public. Voters’ views have hardened since last year’s referendum: A poll published last week found that 88% do not want to see any major concessions made to the UK.



Last week alone, the chancellor met the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the Republic of Ireland. When Merkel meets the EU’s other leaders she is said to remind them that Brexit is not the most important issue the 27 have to deal with: Their focus should firmly remain on the EU, and its future, as well as on other matters like defence cooperation, eurozone reforms, and the migration crisis. She is also angling for a number of member states to take up the UK’s traditional role as the voice at the table that speaks up for open markets and free trade.

“Merkel is a skilled moderator who is seen as the honest broker,” Henrik Enderlein, director of the Jacques Delors Institute and vice president of Berlin’s Hertie School of Governance, told BuzzFeed News. “But there will be no compromising on Brexit."