BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel signalled a readiness on Tuesday to discuss the parameters of the free movement of people in the European Union, in remarks that may open some room for manoeuvre in talks on Britain's exit from the bloc.
Merkel said the EU could not divide its four freedoms - of movement of goods, capital, people and services - to allow Britain to restrict immigration from the bloc while retaining tariff-free access to the market of close to 500 million people.
But she opened a door to discussions on the framework of the free movement of people, in a potentially significant development for Britain, where controlling immigration was a major issue for many of the 52 percent of Britons who backed leaving the EU.
"Were we to make an exception for the free movement of people with Britain, this would mean we would endanger principles of the whole internal market in the European Union, because everyone else will then want these exceptions," Merkel told a meeting of Germany's BDA employers association.
But on the finer detail of defining the free movement of people, she added: "And so I personally am of the view that we will have to discuss further with the (European) Commission when this freedom of movement applies from." Merkel said that if, for example, someone came to Germany from eastern Europe and worked only for a short time but acquired a life-long claim on welfare benefits, "then I see a question about which we must talk again."
"Free movement applies to me in the sense that the employee himself earns the money he needs for himself and his family in the other member state," she said. The nuance around when to apply the principle of free movement of people could prove welcome to British Prime Minister Theresa May, who has said Britain does not face a "binary choice" between curbing immigration and getting a good trade agreement.
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