Merkel to chair first Brexit committee meeting next week

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel will next Wednesday chair a meeting of a cabinet committee on Brexit at which ministers will discuss organizational and structural issues related to Britain's departure from the European Union. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Merkel's chief of staff Peter Altmaier will be among those present at the meeting, government spokesman Steffen Seibert said. "The committee will deal with preparations for negotiations on Britain's exit from the European Union, preparations within the federal government as well as by European institutions," he told a regular government news conference on Friday. Seibert declined to give further details about the meeting. It will be the first meeting of the ministerial committee on Brexit, which was set up in November, five months after Britain's vote to leave the EU. (Reporting by Joseph Nasr; Editing by Paul Carrel)