“She declared that it was nearly impossible to trigger article 50 this year but it’s quite likely that they will be ready, maybe in January, maybe in February, next year”.
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European Council president Donald Tusk revealed that Britain’s prime minister Theresa May told him the date of when she is likely to trigger Article 50 and therefore start the two-year negotiation process on how the United Kingdom will exit the European Union.
Former Polish premier Tusk said Friday’s talks were “sober but not defeatist”. “If we do so, there will be no room for doubt that it is a good thing to be a member of the Union”. Countries in the east – Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and others – have openly opposed proposed solutions coming out of European Union headquarters Brussels and even defied the wishes of their neighbours.
“It’s about showing through deeds that we can become better”, she said, talking about “cooperation in the field of defense” in the same breath as the fight against terror, economic growth and job creation. In principle the article 50 exit negotiations, over which members states will not have a veto, must be concluded before the new trade deal can be addressed. UK Independence Party MEP Mike Hookem had demanded that Mrs May explain the delay, saying: “If Donald Tusk is to be believed it supports our fears that the Tory government is dragging its heels on Brexit”.
Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told CNBC that the Brexit vote was regrettable and was “a loss for the whole European Union but we have to work from that and show that we can unite”. “We should be embracing the opportunity not running away from it”.
Grybauskaite said that European Union member countries need to increase their defense co-operation, particularly by conducting missions in third countries, however, the founding of new joint military structures was not a topic of discussion.
Despite this, the Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has again insisted that no quarter can be given to Britain over the issue of free movement of workers.
Slovakia and its Visegrad peers are ready to protect the rights of their citizens living and working in the United Kingdom and will veto any Brexit deal that would restrict the free movement of labour, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico said on September 17.
With Britain’s withdrawal clouded in confusion and no clear signal on whether the country intends to stay in the single market or not, Europe’s 27 other leaders gathered for an informal summit in the Slovakian capital, Bratislava, without the prime minister.
French president Francois Hollande issued a rallying cry to other members on his arrival to the conference.
“Germany and France will very intensively play their part in the coming months in order to make all this a success”, Ms Merkel said.
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Merkel did not downplay the seriousness of the situation that Europe now finds itself in. Objecting to a joint statement on border controls to be issued at the culmination of the meeting, Mrs Merkel insisted that a line asserting that Europe is “never to allow a return to the chaos a year ago”, be deleted, and replaced with a phrase referring merely to “uncontrolled flows”, a source told the Mail.
