Germany is determined to deny Britain the Brexit it wants

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Michael Huether

Andreas Lutz/YouTube

Michael Huether.

Theresa May's government is overestimating how much Germany values its commercial links with Britain ahead of Brexit talks getting underway.

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That is according to economic expert Michael Huether, who was interviewed by German publication FAZ this week.

Huether, director of the Cologne Institute for Economic Research, said Germany will prioritise the long-term interests of the European Union over its Anglo-German trade links when it sits down to negotiate Britain's withdrawal from the 28-nation bloc.

This will include a hardline approach to defending the European Single Market, based on denying Britain the access it desires as long as it refuses to continue with the free movement of people.

Speaking to FAZ, Huether said (translated): "The EU should choose an uncompromising line in the negotiations in their own interest.

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"When it comes to United Kingdom membership's of the European Union, for the EU the question is one of existence. If these negotiations mishandled, the future of the EU as a whole is at risk."

The UK government is yet to confirm the sort of Brexit it will try to negotiate when it sits down with the other 27 member states. However, cabinet minister Greg Clark hinted Britain would look to retain access to the European Single Market during an interview with the BBC over the weekend.

This will sort of deal will be extremely difficult to secure. A host of EU officials and European leaders have said that Britain will not be allowed this level of market access if it chooses to end the free movement of people to the UK.

Speaking in September, European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said:

"There is a clear interlink as we made clear at the very beginning between the access to the internal market and the basic principles of the internal market - namely the free movement of workers and we are sticking to that position."

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Heuther said Germany will follow this line put the EU's four freedoms before trade links with post-Brexit Britain, as the disintegration of the EU would cause much greater economic damage than limited trade links with the UK.

"It would be an invitation to other Member States, also quit in order to obtain a similar special treatment. Of course, the EU must be reformed in many ways," he said.

"But the single market is really a success story of European integration. We will make the EU not sustainable by compromising this achievement by an exception rule for the UK.The economic damage that a disintegration of the EU would do, would be a whole lot bigger for Germany and Europe."