Van Rompuy: No substantive Brexit negotiations for 12 months

Burkhard Balz, a German MEP and influential figure on the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee, said Britain must not underestimate the determination of the rest of Europe to deprive the United Kingdom of its EU financial passporting rights and euro clearing.

As leaders of every EU country, apart from the United Kingdom, are gathering in the Slovakian capital Bratislava to discuss the future of the Union, Van Rompuy told the British broadcaster that the UK’s decision to leave the EU as a “political amputation”.

“You can always start with more technical matters, but the hardcore (issues) – the hard topics – will be tackled after the constitution of the new German government. That will be October-November”.

“Once we leave the European Union we will have complete control over who comes into the United Kingdom from the EU and who doesn’t, with one or two provisos of course”.

The former Belgian prime minister warned London that the EP’s position is that the United Kingdom could only keep access to the single market by accepting the free movement of all European Union citizens into Britain.

In a report on Article 50, the committee said MPs and peers must “play a central role” in the decision to launch negotiations, either by passing an Act of Parliament or approving resolutions tabled in both Commons and Lords.

“There are huge economic interests but there are also red lines”. He said the four European freedoms – of goods, services, capital and labor – were indivisible and Britain could not have one without all of them.

Financial services account for around 10 per cent of Britain’s economy, a larger share than in other big economies, and some British officials are seeking a new relationship with the European Union based on a far-reaching free trade deal including services.

Nigel Farage, the former leader of Ukip who was largely responsible for former Prime Minister David Cameron calling a referendum on the country’s membership of the European Union, said on Wednesday he expected Article 50 to be triggered in January.

The latest move came weeks after British Prime Minister Theresa May said that the triggering of the Article 50 did not need the approval of parliament.

Davis’s Department for Exiting the European Union will need to double staff numbers from 200, meet with business leaders and study data on how Brexit will affect the United Kingdom economy before Prime Minister Theresa May triggers the exit mechanism, he said.

Davis, who campaigned to leave the European Union before the June 23 referendum, said on Monday the United Kingdom can complete negotiations on its future relationship with the bloc within the two-year time limit set out in Article 50.

“Britain has not many friends any more”. The meeting is aimed at creating a roadmap for the bloc without Britain.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has issued a call for unity, asking EU nations to start “pulling in the same direction” in the face of the bloc’s challenges.

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In a YouTube question and answer session Mr Juncker said: “Of course Brexit means that something is wrong in Europe”.