May insists UK ‘will not walk away from European friends’ despite Brexit

“From my point of view it’s completely understandable that a few days after the referendum, a few days after a new government in Great Britain is formed, that the government has to first think what are our interests, what exactly do they look like”, Merkel said at a joint news conference in Berlin with visiting British Prime Minister Theresa May.

New British Prime Minister Theresa May will make her first global trip as leader Wednesday when she heads to Berlin for talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

But while Angela Merkel agreed with May that Britain needed time to put together a negotiating stance before triggering a formal divorce from the bloc, the German chancellor was clear that no one wanted “a long period of limbo”.

The premiers will talk again over a working dinner during the visit, which is the first since Mrs May took the keys to No 10 last week.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has told European Council President Donald Tusk that Britain will not take over the presidency next year, Downing Street confirmed Wednesday.

She stressed that formal negotiations would only be possible once Britain invokes Article 50, adding that the European treaties were clear about this.

This is Mrs May’s first overseas trip as PM – and the red carpet was rolled out for her arrival in the German capital, with a military band playing the UK’s national anthem.

May is likely to be asked when she will invoke Article 50 of the EU’s constitution, which triggers the two-year process of quitting.

“Nobody wants a waiting game – neither the British people nor the European Union member states”, Merkel said.

“I do not underestimate the challenge of negotiating our exit from the European Union and I firmly believe that being able to talk frankly and openly about the issues we face will be an important part of a successful negotiation”, May said Wednesday before traveling to Berlin.

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.

“It’s not as if the British prime minister will in future sit at the EU Council table”, Merkel said.

They have suggested no special exceptions can be made for Britain in terms of continued access to the EU’s single market if, as Mrs May has insisted, the United Kingdom absents itself from freedom of movement rules. “But I also want to be clear that we are not walking away from our European friends”. Mrs May will meet the French President Francois Hollande on Thursday.

May’s first Prime Minister’s Questions session came a week after she succeeded David Cameron, who stepped down after his unsuccessful campaign to persuade Britons to remain in the EU.

In addition to discussing the EU, Mrs May and Mr Hollande are expected to discuss co-operating on counter-terrorism measures in the wake of last week’s terror attack in Nice.

“We have two women here who have got on and had a very constructive discussion”, May said.