Senior politicians in Germany and the Netherlands said U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May’s comments on her approach to pulling out of the European Union point to a clean break from the EU’s single market.
Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders said May’s speech to her Conservative Party signaled that the new premier favors a “a pretty harsh Brexit.” Michael Fuchs, a senior lawmaker in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, said that from Germany it “looks like she’s going for a hard Brexit,” and the U.K.’s negotiating position will be weakened as a result.
