Frank-Walter Steinmeier met the foreign ministers of France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg at a meeting of the six founder members of the European Union in Berlin on Saturday.
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“We take note of the British people’s decision with regret”, Ms Merkel earlier told reporters in Berlin.
The senior conservative lawmaker, who leads the center-right of the European People’s Party group in the European Parliament, pointed out that there would be hard negotiations ahead between the EU and the United Kingdom.
An online petition seeking a second referendum on a British exit from the Europe Union has drawn more than 1 million names, a measure of the extraordinary divisiveness of Thursday’s vote to leave the 28-nation bloc.
On his way into the Saturday meeting, Mr Steinmeier declined to confirm reports that Berlin and Paris will present proposals next week for a “flexible” union, allowing member states more leeway on their degree of European integration.
The Handelsblatt newspaper said a leaked eight-page emergency Brexit plan suggested the German government should push for an “associative status” for Britain after two years of “difficult divorce negotiations”.
Credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the U.K.’s economic outlook from stable to negative, saying Britain faces “a prolonged period of uncertainty… with negative implications for the country’s medium-term growth outlook”.
The same sentiments were echoed by French Foreign Minister, Jean -Marc Ayrault, who called for the designation of a new British prime minister soonest possible, adding that it would not be respectful to delay the process.
We must better deliver on those issues that we have chosen to tackle on the European level.
The leaders also accepted a degree of criticism that the European Union in recent times did not show the energy and braveness needed to work together on such important topics as migration, unemployment and terrorism.
Despite the foreign ministers’ determination to look for solutions to the current crisis, the head of the EU’s executive Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, warned in German daily Bild on Saturday that other countries may also call for referendums to leave the EU. A majority of 52% voted to leave, with a turnout of 72% of the 46.5mn eligible voters.
“The populists will not leave out this opportunity to promote their anti-Europe politics with much noise”, he said.
The EU founding members meeting Saturday are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Despite a need for a solution of these and other pressing issues in the European Union, he cautioned against rash decisions.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday tweeted that it is “a sad day for Europe”.
Steinmeier says EU politicians must listen “to the expectations of the European governments but also to the expectations of the people”.
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Steinmeier’s office said the Berlin meeting was one of series of talks taking place around the continent, and shouldn’t be seen as “an exclusive format”.
