FILE PHOTO: A Union flag flies next to the flag of the European Union in London, Britain, November 4, 2016. REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

BERLIN (Reuters) - Negotiations about Britain’s future relationship with the remaining 27 European Union members can only start once the British government has invoked Article 50 to start the divorce talks, a German government spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Asked about British Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement that Britain would leave the EU’s single market, government spokeswoman Ulrike Demmer declined to comment.

She added, however, that EU member states remained united in their position that the bloc’s “four freedoms” - of movement of goods, capital, people, and services - were inseparable.