Merkel: May speech gave more clarity on British approach to Brexit

BERLIN: The European Union has more clarity on how the British government will go into talks on leaving the bloc after Prime Minister Theresa May's speech on Tuesday but negotiations cannot start until London triggers the process, Angela Merkel said.

"The speech made by British Prime Minister Theresa May has given us a clear impression of how Great Britain wants to proceed but nonetheless the negotiations will only start when the application has been made in accordance with Article 50," the German chancellor said at a news conference on Wednesday with her Italian counterpart.

"The main thing is that Europe does not let itself be divided and we will make sure of that via very intensive dialogue," she said.