BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The collapse of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s talks to form a three-way coalition government is “bad news for Europe”, the Dutch foreign minister said on Monday, highlighting the leading role of the European Union’s most powerful member.
The euro hit a two-month low against the yen soon after the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) unexpectedly pulled out on Sunday after weeks of talks with Merkel’s conservative bloc and the ecologist Greens.
“It’s bad news for Europe that the government in Germany will take a little longer,” the Netherlands’ new foreign minister, Halbe Zijlstra, told reporters on arriving to talks with his EU peers in Brussels on Monday.
“Germany is a very influential country within the EU so if they don’t have a government and therefore don’t have a mandate it’ll be very hard for them to take positions.”
While some in Germany held out the prospect of a possible new election, Zijlstra said that was a bad idea and quipped the Dutch government took seven months to form, which meant German parties could still return to talks after a pause.
He did not think the political crisis in Germany was affecting Brexit talks specifically at the moment, as the EU was “waiting for a substantial offer from the British” on their exit bill.
Arriving at the same talks, the Czech Republic’s EU minister Ales Chmelar said: “We are hopeful that we will have a strong government in Germany sooner rather than later.”
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