EU leaders agreed on Wednesday (June 29) that Britain can not have access to the single market after leaving the union without accepting the bloc’s rules on free movement, president Donald Tusk said.
Advertisement
British Prime Minister David Cameron, second right, waits for the start of a group photo at an European Union summit in Brussels on Tuesday, June 28, 2016.
But Mr Tusk added the bloc wanted to keep Britain as a “close partner” after it leaves the EU.
The call was made by the President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite as she arrived for a European Council summit in Brussels.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel also reiterated that there would be no discussions with the United Kingdom until Article 50 was formally triggered by the United Kingdom government.
France’s Francois Hollande, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, Italy’s Matteo Renzi and others all made similar points. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said “we have no illusions – it’s a qualitatively different task” compared with previous crises.
The principle of freedom of movement of people is one of the “four freedoms” – along with goods, capital and services – that underlie the EU’s internal market. At left is Slovenian Prime Minister Miro Cerar and right is Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa.
Mr Cameron told MPs today that, contrary to reports, there had been no “great clamour” from European Union leaders at Tuesday’s summit for Britain to invoke Article 50 immediately.
Advertisement
“We have to work with our neighbours, we have to work with our institutions, agencies, to stop the flow of irregular migration and reestablish our control on our external borders. this is our plan for today and tomorrow”, Tusk says.
