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German finance minister urges EU to reform regardless of British referendum result

Xinhua, June 21, 2016 Adjust font size:

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Tuesday the European Union (EU) must change regardless of the result of a referendum on Britain's membership of the EU this week.

"Europe is not in a good shape," Schaeuble was quoted as saying by German dpa news agency in a conference of Germany's ruling Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party in Berlin.

He told the conference the EU could not go on as before even if the British people chose to stay in the Thursday referendum.

If the EU failed to reform, people across the 28-member bloc would say the EU had failed to understand their concerns.

German politicians and economists have warned in recent weeks a Brexit would hurt both British and European economies and lead to the disintegration of the union.

Last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said a Brexit would mean Britain would no longer have access to the European single market. However, she said it was up to the British people to determine their nation's future relations with the EU. Endit