Theresa May revealed she has begun preparations for Britain’s “orderly departure” from the European Union as she held talks with her I talian counterpart in Rome.
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She also condemned the “shameful and despicable attacks” against Poles and other foreigners living in Britain following the vote in June to leave the EU.
Italy’s premier said the negotiations must be as “efficient as possible” and called for a timeline to be set out.
It was not clear whether the issue was discussed in depth between the two leaders, or whether May’s remarks represented a concern for British citizens overseas, or a veiled threat to counterparts like Renzi who want to see ensure their citizens are not adversely affected.
The bloc “has to give thought to what happened that such an important country, with such a big economy, chose to leave the European Union”, she added.
“Of course we are saddened by this and we, to a certain extent, understand the public opinion”.
“But it is the British people’s decision and we respect it”, said Renzi. “Now we have to deal with it with common sense”.
“I fully expect and intend to be able to guarantee the rights of Polish citizens when we leave the EU”, May said, but also demanded reciprocity.
“Italy is the UK’s eighth largest export market and trade in goods alone was worth £24 billion a year ago”.
Mrs May added she expected to be able to guarantee the rights of Poles to remain in Britain after the country quits the bloc, and hit out at the wave of hate crime sparked by the result.
She told BBC Two’s Newsnight: “While the whole issue is terribly complicated, it wouldn’t be that hard to envision a trade agreement between the USA and the United Kingdom done relatively quickly given that both economies are already fairly open, both countries take a fairly open perspective on liberalisation”.
The UK PM said she wanted to “make a success of Brexit” and would “seek to address the concerns of the British people about free movement” while working for a “close economic relationship with the EU”. “We will deliver on that”, May said.
“I think what we’ll move to after the holiday break in September, October, November when we get to the political season resuming again is we’ll get into a lot of this nitty-gritty”.
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Around 800,000 Poles live in Britain, where they headed after the EU’s 2004 “Big Bang” expansion to former Communist states in eastern and central Europe. “For this reason we are particularly interested in giving our greatest help to make the path ahead as efficient as possible”.
