German chancellor Angela Merkel hosts a mini-summit in Berlin today to sound out post-Brexit EU options in a bid to de-escalate demands for London's immediate departure from the bloc at tomorrow's gathering in Brussels.
The German leader will meet European Council president Donald Tusk first today, followed by a meeting with the French and Italian leaders François Hollande and Matteo Renzi.
The meetings come after foreign ministers of the EU’s six founding states, meeting outside Berlin on Saturday, urged Britain “not to play cat and mouse” over the timing of its departure from the union.
In a similar vein, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker told German television he wanted Britain's divorce papers on his desk "immediately".
European Parliament president Martin Schulz, echoing a draft resolution by MEPs, insisted in Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper that tomorrow's summit – and not the autumn, as British politicians suggest – was the "suitable moment" for London to trigger the Lisbon Treaty's article 50, the procedure which governs the exit of a state from the EU.
Sensing a second disaster – this time over the Brexit timetable – Dr Merkel has warned that “there is no need to be nasty” over the looming divorce talks’ timing or approach.
"Let's be honest, it shouldn't take forever, but I wouldn't fight over a short period," she said after weekend talks with political allies in Potsdam, near Berlin.
Given that EU members will still have close contacts with Britain – through the G7, Nato and the UN – the German leader insisted that talks for an associate EU membership or trade agreement must take place in a "good, business-like" atmosphere.
Meanwhile, Europe's centre-left Socialist camp has tried to seize the post-referendum political initiative, with Mr Hollande, France's Socialist president, set to meet in Berlin with Sigmar Gabriel, the Social Democrat (SPD) leader and deputy chancellor.
Flexible union
SPD foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, meanwhile, presented on Saturday – without involving Dr Merkel’s office – a Franco-German EU reform paper calling for a “flexible union”.
Reheating the idea of a two-speed Europe, the 10-page paper talks of a need to recognise "different levels of ambition" towards integration around the continent. At the behest of the French, the document demands greater security spending and intelligence sharing.
Germany’s fingerprints are visible on the assertion that “it is unsupportable for the burden of immigration to be unevenly shouldered by a limited number of member states”.
Officials close to Dr Merkel are as dismissive of the paper as of demands to force Britain to activate its EU departure.
Tomorrow the European Parliament will consider a draft resolution brought by its four main groups calling on British prime minister David Cameron to formally notify the European Council of the referendum outcome at this week'S EU summit.
“This notification will launch the withdrawal procedure,” the draft text says, adding that its swift implementation is necessary “to prevent damaging uncertainty for everyone and in order to protect the union’s integrity”.
Peter Altmaier, Dr Merkel's chief-of-staff, said Europe should wait for a new government in London to "sort itself out and, as the case may be, present its application".
Despite efforts to force a second referendum in Britain, senior German officials say they have no expectation that the Brexit vote can be reversed.
Instead they are preparing for a difficult balancing act in the months ahead: finding a path to a future relationship with Britain that neither punishes the country for voting to leave the bloc nor appears to reward it either.
Amid the Brexit fallout, the European parliament will tomorrow call for a shake-up of the EU’s rotating presidency.
Although Britain is due to assume the six-month rotating EU presidency in July 2017, there is speculation that Estonia – due to assume the presidency in January 2018 – will take its place.
Resignation
Amid Brexit timetable uncertainty, Britain’s EU Commissioner Jonathan Hill announced his resignation on Saturday.
His surprise decision could signal that Britain may already be unwinding its presence in the EU institutions, although the financial services commissioner said he would remain in the role on a temporary basis to ensure an “orderly handover”.
His financial services portfolio has been assigned to Latvian commissioner and vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis.
