Theresa May to meet Merkel and Hollande as UK gives up European Council presidency
Theresa May was scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday as Downing street said the UK will relinquish its forthcoming six month presidency of the European Council.
It was to be May’s first trip abroad as prime minister after she attended her first prime minister’s questions, the last before Parliament broke for summer recess.
May was expected to have a working lunch with her German counterpart in Berlin on Wednesday before meeting French president Francois Hollande in Paris on Thursday.
The prime minister said it was important to maintain strong trading links with Europe post-Brexit.
May said: "These visits will be an opportunity to forge a strong working relationship that we can build upon and which I hope to develop with more leaders across the European Union in the weeks and months ahead. I do not under-estimate 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.
"I also want to deliver a very clear message about the importance we attach to our bilateral relationship with our European partners, not just now but also when we have left the European Union. These relationships have been vital in the past and they will be vital in the future as we continue to work together to keep our people safe and to support economic growth that benefits people across our countries."
The European Council (EC) presidency alternates between the 28 member states of the EU every six months.
The UK was set to take up the mantel in the second half of 2017, but gave it up in light of the country’s decision to leave the EU in the June referendum.
The EC sets the agenda for the EU's overall political direction and priorities, however it is not one of the EU's legislating institutions, therefore it does not negotiate or set out EU laws.
The members of the EC are the heads of state or government of member states, the EC president, currently Donald Tusk, and the president of the European Commission, now Jean-Claude Juncker. Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the union for foreign affairs and security policy also attends when foreign affairs are discussed.
Formal negotiations for the UK’s departure were not expected to start at the meetings with Merkel and Hollande, rather they were meant to set the tone for negotiations.
May said she will not trigger Article 50, the clause which will start a two-year period for leaving the EU, this year. May will seek to come to a national agreement first of what Brexit would look like with governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. She also said she will talk to business and industry.
Germany and France had answered that no exceptions should be made for Britain in terms of access to the single market and the free movement of people, which were fundamental principles of the EU.
Both Merkel and Hollande face elections next year and were thought to be facing domestic pressures not be lenient with the UK so as to discourage other anti-EU movements on the continent.