Britain will invoke Article 50, triggering the process to leave the European Union, in January or February EU Officials have claimed, following confidential talks with the Prime Minister Theresa May.
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The PM “recognises the need to deliver on the public verdict without delay”, the Downing Street source stated.
Speaking after a summit in Bratislava, Robert Fico, the Slovak leader and head of the group of the four nations dubbed the Visegrad group (V4), said: “V4 countries will be uncompromising”.
Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council, told a meeting of European leaders in Bratislava that Mrs May had told him it was “quite likely” that Article 50 would be invoked “either January or February 2017”.
All the European Union leaders have insisted there will be no formal Brexit talks until Britain triggers the two-year divorce process and says what it wants.
No one said Brexit was going to be easy though.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is in Bratislava attending a summit meeting of the 27 states that will remain in the European Union when Britain leaves. Banks and businesses are pressing her to secure that single market access and secure the economy while MPs and politicians want her to make good on pre-vote promises to curb immigration from Europe.
The Union will support its member countries in guaranteeing their internal security, while the exchange of information between individual countries must be intensified, in addition to providing a boost to European cooperation in external security and defence, he said.
EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the member states agreed to award 108 million euros ($121 million) in emergency funding to Bulgaria for border management at one of the most porous borders with Turkey.
The leaders meeting in Bratislava sought to use the Brexit vote as an impetus for safeguarding the EU’s future.
The EU already has 18 battle groups consisting of 1,500 troops each, forming the basis of an armed force, But even if those forces grow, leaders of nations most at potential risk from Russian Federation emphasize that the EU initiative is unlikely to match the military deterrence potential packed by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
‘The creation of a European army will only encourage isolationists in the United States to argue that Europe should be responsible for its own defence.
Britain can not expect access to the single market without accepting free movement of people, the European Commission president has claimed.
He said he wanted migration issues to be more clearly addressed in the bloc’s future roadmap, but was happy that border security was more of a priority and that discussion was now underway on flexible solidarity to allow countries to offer what they feel they can to help resolve the migrant crisis.
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“You can’t just pick out the best items that suit you”, he said, adding he didn’t see “any possibility” the United Kingdom could find a compromise on migration controls.
