The elections will take place in May and September respectively next year, meaning the United Kingdom would have to wait at least a year according to van Rompuy.
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Britain is planning block the European Union’s attempts to forge a closer military union and consequentially creating an “EU army” even though the United Kingdom has been left out of key proposal talks because the nation voted for a Brexit in June this year.
Van Rompuy, a former Belgian prime minister, said the European Union would seek a deal of mutual benefit but “red lines” would stand on key areas.
“Any negotiation will be a hard negotiation”, he said. “Of course, we want an agreement which represents some kind of mutual benefit”, he added.
“There are huge economic interests, but there are also red lines”.
Britain is keen to hold more informal talks on Brexit and trade, according to reports, but Europe is putting up resistance.
Mr van Rompuy said that while there was no desire to “punish” Britain for voting to leave, the United Kingdom had “not many friends” among the other 27 member states and the negotiation would be “difficult”. “It is very well known that freedom of movement [of European Union nationals] is a red line”, he said. I saw this clearly when I was in office when we had to vote on candidacy of Jean-Claude Juncker for the presidency of the commission. Nearly three months after the vote, Britons and Europeans still don’t know when the departure will happen or how it will affect their work, travel, pocketbooks and prospects. European Union leaders meet Friday in Slovakia – without the United Kingdom – to try to steer a way past challenges including violent extremism, the refugee crisis and economic woes. “And we are getting smaller”, he said.
However, Britain controls when divorce proceedings will begin – and it’s in no hurry. Negotiations are then supposed to take two years, but could conceivably be extended.
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European Council president Donald Tusk told reporters at the Bratislava summit on Friday that United Kingdom prime minister Theresa May told him 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”.
