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British PM to meet Merkel, Hollande
LONDON: After a confident performance in her first Question Time in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May left for Berlin on Wednesday to hold Brexit-related
LONDON: After a confident performance in her first Question Time in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Theresa May left for Berlin on Wednesday to hold Brexit-related talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel and later with French President Francois Hollande.
The Prime Minister’s Office announced May had formally informed European Council President Donald Tusk that Britain will not take up the rotating EU presidency as scheduled from the second half of 2017.
A sharply attired May’s performance in the gladiatorial encounter in the House of Commons reminded many of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher, as she took on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and joked about the travails within the opposition party.
Britons voted to exit the EU in a referendum held on June 23, triggering a political crisis that cost former prime minister David Cameron his job.
Before the session, a Downing Street spokesperson said the decision not to take up the EU presidency was conveyed during a phone conversation between May and Tusk.
May noted until Britain left the EU, it remained a full member of the bloc.
“In this context, the Prime Minister suggested that the UK should relinquish the rotating presidency of the Council, currently scheduled for the second half of 2017, noting we would be prioritising the negotiations to leave the EU,” the spokesperson said. May, often called the “British Merkel”, is expected to convey to Merkel in Berlin that Britain needs more time to decide when to trigger Article 50, beginning the process to leave the European Union.
