'Sad day for Europe, Britain,' says German foreign minister

Frankfurt, June 23: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said today he regretted Britain's decision to leave the EU, calling it a "sad day for Europe".

"The early morning news from #GreatBritain are truly sobering. It looks like a sad day for #Europe +the #UnitedKingdom," Steinmeier wrote on Twitter.

EU Parliament President Martin Schulz said he would speak with German Chancellor Angela Merkel "on how we can avoid a chain reaction" of other EU states following.

"The chain reaction that is being celebrated everywhere now by euroskeptics won't happen," he said. The EU was the biggest single market in the world and "Great Britain has just cut its ties with that market," Schulz said.

"That'll have consequences and I don't believe other countries will be encouraged to follow that dangerous path." "I am not shocked," he said of the results of the British referendum, adding: "We were prepared."

PTI