Frankfurt: 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.
Read: Brexit vote: Barack Obama expected to speak to David Cameron
"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.
Read: EU chief Donald Tusk vows bloc will stay united after Britain exit vote
"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."
Frank-Walter Steinmeier will host talks Saturday with his counterparts from the European Union's founding nations, following Britain's vote to leave the bloc.
Read: Britain votes to leave EU in historic divorce unleashing global turmoil
France's Jean-Marc Ayrault, the Netherlands' Bert Koenders, Italy's Paolo Gentiloni, Belgium's Didier Reynders and Luxemburg's Jean Asselborn will meet in Berlin for the six-way talks on "current European political issues", Germany's foreign ministry said in a statement.
