Schaeuble: Trying to keep disadvantages for Britain as small as possible in Brexit

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Friday that the European Union was trying to limit the negative effects of Brexit for Britain but stressed that countries wanting to get the benefits related to the bloc had to make commitments, too.

"We need to find a fair path - if Britain still wants to have good access to the single market, it has to take on the corresponding commitments and if it doesn't want that, then there will be a separation - that's a shame for Britain," Schaeuble told Deutschlandfunk radio station.

"We're trying to keep the disadvantages as small as possible but it's clear that the rest of Europe must not be contaminated by it," he said.

(Reporting by Michelle Martin; Editing by Kim Coghill)