Merkel stresses access to EU market requires free movement of people

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has always stressed that access to the European Union's single market requires that a country accept the bloc's principle of the free movement of people, her spokesman said on Wednesday. Asked if Merkel's tone on Brexit had hardened in recent days due to British Prime Minister Theresa May's latest comments on the issue, spokesman Steffen Seibert told a government news conference: "I will leave the interpretation up to you." "A key assertion of the chancellor in the last months has, however, always been that full participation in the EU internal market means that the country that wants such participation must also fully subscribe to the free movement of people," he added. (Reporting by Paul Carrel; Editing by Joseph Nasr)