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Britain remains 'important partner' despite veto: Germany

12 December 2011, 14:49 CET
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(BERLIN) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman said Monday that Britain remains an "important partner," despite its regrettable veto of a new EU treaty to step up fiscal integration.

"Britain remains an important partner for Germany (and) ... shares many points of view, for example on competitiveness," the success of the common market and foreign policy, Steffen Seibert told a regular government briefing.

"The decision (to veto), as regrettable as it was, is based on a certain logic," he added, pointing to Britain's decision not to join the eurozone in the first place.

British Prime Minister David Cameron took his decision after failing to secure agreement from Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for Britain's huge financial services sector to be exempted from certain EU regulations and a drive to impose new EU taxes.

After Britain blocked an EU-wide treaty, the other 26 EU states signalled their willingness to join a "new fiscal compact" to impose more budgetary rigour in order to cope with a growing debt crisis.


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