‘Paris, Berlin should take lead’

France and Germany should “take the initiative” after Brit-ish voters decided their country should quit the EU, French President Fra-ncois Hollande said on Sunday. “A friendly country, an allied country with whom we have so many ties has just decided to leave our union, the EU, which we believed to be indestructible and indissoluble,” Mr Hollande said at a World War II commemoration.

“It is now the responsibility of France and Germany to take the

initiative, because we have shown that from unhappiness, horror and war, we (two) were able to forge a strong friendship,” said Mr Hollande, referring to the post-war forces behind the founding of the EU.

“If we are separated, we run the risk of being disunited, divided and quarrelling,” Mr Hollande warned. But “if we are together, we can not only win peace, but also the respect of the citizens of this fine union called Europe.”

Mr Hollande was speaking at the inauguration of a memorial at Dun-les-Places, a “martyred village” in central-eastern France, where Nazi troops torched homes and massacred 27 inhabitants in June 1944.

Meanwhile, German Ch-ancellor Angela Merkel sought on Saturday to temper pressure from Paris, Brussels and her own government to force Britain into negotiating a quick divorce from the EU, despite warnings that hesitation will let populism take hold.

“Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame,” Ms Merkelsaid.