Merkel: Backers of UK exit from EU ‘gravely negligent’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel blasted those who would welcome the UK’s departure from the European Union, even as she said the island nation isn’t always a "comfortable partner" in the 28-member bloc.

Taking up the latest spat among EU states, Merkel reasserted her support for Luxembourg’s Jean-Claude Juncker as the next European Commission president in the face of “reservations” in Prime Minister David Cameron’s government.

Still, she castigated Juncker allies for taking the UK’s opposition — and the UK’s EU membership — for granted. “I think it’s gravely negligent, and actually unacceptable, how easily some say how indifferent they are about whether Britain agrees or not — and what’s more, whether Britain remains in the European Union or not,” Merkel said yesterday in the Bundestag, in Berlin.