Tusk told reporters at a summit in Bratislava that when he met May in a meeting earlier this month in London, she told him during a talk that she is aiming to trigger Article 50 a lot earlier than many have expected.
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On Friday, 27 European Union member states met in Bratislava to discuss a variety of matters, including that of a closer military integration.
Britain has always opposed a joint EU military for fear it would overlap with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but the remaining members hope that boosting defence cooperation will give the union something to rally around. “It’s not against the United Kingdom, but it’s an important guideline”, he said.
“When we do leave the European Union, we fully expect that the legal status of European Union nationals living in the United Kingdom and that of United Kingdom nationals in European Union member states, will be properly protected”, the government has said. That is why we are determined to correct the past mistakes and move on with common solutions as the European Union of 27. We will not allow this negotiation to damage our interest.You can not get away from the feeling that such negotiations run the risk of creating second-class citizens in the UK.
The new group, which has the support of at least six Conservative lawmakers so far, will add to the impression that concerns are growing among Mays colleagues over whether she will deliver full Brexit or some kind of compromise. One is that the negotiations must lead to a result where it is clear that it is worth being a member of the EU.
They pledged the “loyal” co-operation and communication of member states and institutions. Until the policy was corrected, the Hungarian premier said, a “suction effect” would continue to draw masses to Europe.
Tusk said that high on the agenda was migration after some 1.5 million refugees entered Europe previous year alone.
But Fico himself has taken a very hard line on the migrant issue, refusing to allow in a “single Muslim” and taking the EU’s refugee sharing policy to court. “You can’t just pick the best items and have just what suits you”, he said.
Commenting on the issue, Mr Juncker told the press conference: “There’s a clear interlink as we made clear since the very beginning between the access to the internal market and the basic principles of the internal market, mainly the one of the freedom of movement of workers”.
Concerning economic and social development, EU leaders will adopt decision on the extension of the European Fund for Strategic Investment in light of evaluation and review progress on the different Single Market strategies including Digital Single Market, Capital Markets Union, Energy Union.
He added: “So I can not see any possibility of compromising on that very issue”. But, after the triggering of Article 50, he said that regular summits at 27 would be held. While we all agree that the European Union is not flawless, we also agree that it is the best instrument we have.
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“We haven’t come to Bratislava to comfort each other or even worse to deny the real challenges we face in this particular moment in the history of our community after the vote in the UK”, Tusk admitted.
