Germany Says Merkel's `Illusions' Warning to U.K. Was Unprompted

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel didn't need prompting from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to warn the U.K. against harboring “illusions” in its divorce talks with the European Union, her spokesman said.

Merkel made the comment in a speech to the German parliament on Thursday, the morning after U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May and Juncker met at Downing Street to discuss Brexit. German government spokesman Steffen Seibert denied a report by Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that Merkel inserted the “illusions” line after Juncker called her and said he was shocked by the U.K. leadership's approach to negotiating Brexit.

“All I can say is that the chancellor's speech was drafted independently of any dinner in London,” Seibert told reporters in Berlin on Wednesday. “It was well-prepared and already finalized the day before.”

The leaked account of the dinner escalated rhetoric on both sides as May seeks re-election on June 8 after a campaign defined by Britain's exit from the EU. May vowed on Tuesday she wouldn't be pushed around in the talks, saying that Juncker is learning she can be “bloody difficult.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Arne Delfs in Berlin at adelfs@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alan Crawford at acrawford6@bloomberg.net, Tony Czuczka, Kevin Costelloe