London on Thursday took its first step towards triggering Brexit by giving up the presidency of the European Council.
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May met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, and said Britain won’t start exit talks until “our objectives are clear”. But here’s what hasn’t happened: the world has not ended.
Nearly half of Spanish consumers – 48 per cent – fear the UK’s vote to leave the European Union will have a “somewhat” or “extremely” negative impact on their own economy, as do 41 per cent of Italian and Polish consumers, according to a new poll.
“As Theresa May and Angela Merkel guide Britain and Germany, and indeed Europe, through the challenges they face, we look to them finding ways to build on the open and free interactions that have bought pleasure to so many walkers and trekkers as they explore each other’s countries”.
May, who took office last week, also said Britain “will continue to meet our North Atlantic Treaty Organisation obligations, to spend 2 percent of our GDP on defense”. There can be no freedom of movement of goods, of capital and of services “if there is not free movement of people”, he said. She also mocked the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties and dodged criticism about past undiplomatic comments made by her choice for foreign minister – top Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson.
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Merkel told President Tayyip Erdogan during a phone call on Monday that Turkey can not join the European Union if it reinstates the death penalty, which has been advocated by members of his AK party. Several commentators heard echoes of Thatcher in her barbed comments, with the Independent daily commenting that she was “eerily reminiscent” of the late so-called Iron Lady.
