MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Merkel furious with leaks on PM May 'weakness'; EU fearful she could be replaced by Boris Johnson
The German chancellor was reportedly angered by the leaks; she believes hostility from EU could weaken PM May and mean she is replaced by a hard line candidate German Chancellor Angela Merkel was made “furious” by the leaks from Brexit talks about Theresa May as Berlin fears her leadership could come to an end if attacks against her continue. May reportedly “begged for help” according to details of a dinner between the prime minister and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker published by German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday.
The German chancellor was reportedly angered by the leaks, as she believes hostility from Europe could weaken PM May and mean she is replaced by a candidate such as Boris Johnson, who would take a much more hard line view on Brexit.
A senior Berlin source told The Times: “Angela Merkel is furious at these reports. It is known that she has lost patience with the British Conservatives but the last thing she wants is for Theresa May to be replaced in the middle of the Brexit negotiations.”
Merkel is annoyed by the Tories not giving more details about their plans for Brexit, but does not want negotiations to collapse as this would severely hurt European economies and likely result in a no-deal scenario.
According to the leaks, May appeared “anxious... despondent and discouraged,” and had “deep rings” under eyes due to the “enemies at her neck... waiting for her to fall.”
However Juncker has repeatedly claimed that he had no idea who was behind the leaks and that the reports were false. He said: “I am really surprised – if not shocked – about what has been written in the German press, and of course repeated by the British press. Nothing is true in all of this.
”I had an excellent working dinner with Theresa May. She was in good shape, she was not tired, she was fighting as is her duty so everything for me was OK.“
When asked whether May had ”begged for help“ as she was struggling to hold her cabinet together, Juncker said: ”No, that’s not the style of British prime ministers”.
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Read all commentsIf she is concerned about the rise of Boris, no chance. She should be more concerned about her reputation in Germany “snobbish and arrogant” are the terms being used by my pals in Bavaria, and the election results have seen her rejected by many and the rise of AFD. Which is what should concern us.
Oct 26th, 2017 - 10:05 am +1Jean-Claude “I'm open to negotiations provided you agree to all my demands” Junkers needs to be dumped along with his incomprehensibly stupid partner in crime Tusk. Perhaps if real statespeople become involved they will be able to haul themselves away from the myopically narrow piece of turf the Junkers/Tusk duo have marked out and endeavor to see the bigger picture - Europe is immeasurably better off with the UK as a full trading partner even if the UK refuses to kowtow to the Brussels bureaucracy. Sure, when you are in a pissing contest it's agreeable to win, and the European hard line doubtless has frightened off anyone else thinking of doing an exit, but losing the UK as a market purely as a result of the exercise of showing how nasty you can be is cutting off the old proboscis with a vengeance. The Europeans need to get practical and try to be a little flexible on those principals that only the elite intellectuals who designed them really subscribe to. If the Brits want to exercise a modicum of control over who comes into their country, really, it will not be the end of mankind as we know it.
Oct 26th, 2017 - 01:04 pm +1@Pontefractious. Not so much Juncker and Tusk, more a case of drunken Juncker and “power-crazed” Verhofstadt. And we mustn't forget snooty Barnier. If, as Europe would like to suggest, it wants an amicable and productive future “relationship” with Britain, why would you put it in the hands of a questionable Luxembourger, an incompetent Belgian and a Frenchman with illusions of grandeur?
Oct 26th, 2017 - 06:16 pm +1In any event, Juncker's reputation, if he ever had one, is shot. Second largest contributor and one of the few voices of reason walked out on his watch! Verhofstadt, a little man who couldn't hold a government together, and Barnier who looks to be about to realise his “dream” of being “president” of the European Commission. The fate of the EU is no doubt sealed. For some reason, Verhofstadt always makes me think of Hitler with health service glasses. Barnier will undoubtedly be suitably autocratic. With eastern europe in rebellion, Italy overwhelmed by illegal migrants and, as usual, lack of money, Spain entering a new era of fascist dictatorship, with a facade of “democracy” and Germany revealed to be divided, weak and about to lose its most significant export market, the next ten years should “interesting times”.
Thank heaven that Britain will be out of it. We've never had any “friends” on that continent except, possibly, for Portugal. Despite having saved them from themselves at least three times. Just imagine what Europe would be like left to the whims of Napoleon, Kaiser Wilhelm and Hitler. Britain can now concentrate on the Anglosphere, the Commonwealth and those countries bright enough to associate with the greatest trading nation the world has ever known. It might have been called an Empire but it was based more on trade than force. Europe still hasn't learned that lesson. It now uses the “power” of money instead of bombs and bullets, but its “imperial” ambition remains the same.
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