Olaf Scholz said that the current U.K. leader Boris Johnson's recent proposals to break the Brexit deadlock would not be acceptable if they have "an effect on the single market, on the customs union," or if the Good Friday agreement that resolved decades of violence in Northern Ireland might be "endangered."
Germany's finance minister has said the EU and U.K. have a "common responsibility" to negotiate a settlement to govern Britain's departure from Europe, but insisted any solution to end the Brexit impasse in the coming days must meet the EU's long-standing list of criteria. The German finance chief spoke to CNBC as he arrived in Luxembourg to meet his European counterparts, with less than a month until the current Brexit deadline of October 31st, and the possibility of a disorderly departure still a looming threat to several EU nations that have close trading relationships with the U.K.