Mrs May has already spoken to both Chancellor Merkel and President Hollande on the phone but their first face-to-face meetings over the next two days are seen as highly important in setting the tone for the long and hard negotiations over European Union exit that lie ahead.
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“In my years here in this house I’ve long heard the Labour Party asking what the Conservative Party does for women, well it just keeps making us prime minister!” she said to huge cheers from her colleagues as her husband Philip looked on from the public gallery.
On Mr Johnson, the German chancellor added: “The first meeting of foreign ministers has already occurred among the 28”.
Although May became PM unexpectedly quickly, following David Cameron’s resignation, few member states are likely to have much patience beyond the start of 2017 – and with it, the French and German election cycles.
“I take it that the British Foreign Secretary in good co-operation with all of the other 27 foreign ministers will work on these issues. But we all have an interest in this matter being carefully prepared, positions being clearly defined and delineated”, she said. “So we will wait for the moment when the United Kingdom invokes this – and then we will put our guidelines on the table”, Merkel said.
Merkel said she also believes that a good preparation ahead of European Union exit negotiations is important.
Asked what their first impressions were of each other, May said: “We have two women here who get on with the job and both want to deliver the best results for the people of the United Kingdom and the people of Germany”.
After meeting Merkel, May said they were “two women who get on with the job and want to deliver the best results” for their people.
May said that during her meeting with Merkel they also discussed global issues, developments in Ukraine, the civil war in Syria, and the refugee crisis.
“We will of course need to get an idea of what ideas Britain has regarding withdrawal”, said Merkel, with a note of warning: “We don’t want an impasse, the British people don’t want it but the European Union doesn’t want it either”.
British Prime Minister Theresa May said on Wednesday she wanted to reduce yearly net migration into Britain to the “tens of thousands”, a level she said was sustainable.
The two leaders will have a working dinner later yesterday before May has talks with France’s Francois Hollande today.
For her first major diplomatic mission, fashion-loving Mrs May wore her trademark leopard-print kitten heels and a sharp navy jacket.
Given the importance of a relationship seen as key to the future negotiations, both leaders were at pains to stress their desire for close ties.
But both leaders are under no illusion about how tough the talks on Britain’s departure might be.
While Merkel was diplomatic Wednesday, German and French politicians insist that Britain can not keep access to the EU’s single market without accepting the free movement of workers across frontiers – something May is under pressure at home to resist.
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She said Britain and Germany aim to “deepen our bilateral military partnership” and do more together on worldwide issues like Ukraine, Syria, migration, counter-terrorism and cross-border crime.
