He was speaking as Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament, urged the Prime Minister to enact Brexit as soon as possible. But there is little.
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Meanwhile a Downing Street spokesperson said May had “made her position clear” on Article 50, adding: “Her priority is getting the best deal for Britain”.
Britain’s allies fear that its exit from the EU could mark a turning point in post-Cold War worldwide affairs that will weaken the West in relation to China and Russian Federation, undermine efforts towards European integration and hurt global free trade.
“The government’s “go slow” negotiating approach, together with a reluctance to provide frequent updates, calms markets in the short-term”, Allianz economist Mohamed El Erian said. “We want to avoid surprises”, one of the sources told Reuters.
“My experience of six years of European negotiations is that nothing serious happens until the French and, especially, the German governments take a view – and both countries will be preoccupied with their own domestic elections for much of next year”.
“You invoke Article 50 in the early part of next year”.
Downing Street has rebuffed Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson for suggesting Article 50 would be triggered early next year to start the withdrawal process.
His intervention comes after Boris Johnson said he expects the Government to trigger Article 50 early next year.
Article 50, a the 256-word provision drafted by a former British ambassador to the European Union, has never been used so there is no legal precedent for how it works though it gives a two-year period to work out the divorce. You have two years to pull it off. That’s still subject for discussion but what is clear I think to our friends and partners in the European Union is two broad principles: we are not leaving Europe; Although we are leaving the European Union treaties, we do want to have the closest possible trading relationship and it’s very much in their interests to achieve that… it’s very much in their interests to do a great free trade deal with us, and I think that will happen’.
In an hour-long talk and question and answer session about Brexit and the future of the EU, Mr Schulz said Britain’s departure is a blow but may allow the remaining member states to pursue greater integration. “We should go for a jumbo free-trade deal and take back control of our immigration policy”, Johnson added.
Mr Schulz told the LSE: “I see a clear majority in the European Parliament for insisting that the fundamental freedoms are inseparable ie no freedom of movement for goods, capital and services, without free movement of persons”.
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University leaders fear Brexit will cause major disruption to funding and could possibly restrict students coming to the United Kingdom to study from the European union.
