No informal EU talks before Britain invokes Article 50, says Germany

Berlin: There will be no informal discussions between Britain and the European Union before the British government has invoked formal divorce proceedings by making the Article 50 request, a German government spokesman said on Monday. "One thing is clear: before Britain has sent this request there will be no informal preliminary talks about the modalities of leaving," Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, told a regular news conference. "Only when Britain has made the request according to Article 50 will the European Council draw up guidelines in consensus for an exit agreement," he added.