No informal EU talks before Britain invokes Article 50, says Germany

BERLIN (Reuters) - There will be no informal discussions between Britain and the European Union before the British government has invoked formal divorce proceedings by making the Article 50 request, a German government spokesman said on Monday. "One thing is clear: before Britain has sent this request there will be no informal preliminary talks about the modalities of leaving," Steffen Seibert, spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, told a regular news conference. "Only when Britain has made the request according to Article 50 will the European Council draw up guidelines in consensus for an exit agreement," he added. (Reporting by Caroline Copley and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Michelle Martin)