Britain is expected to start formal talks to leave the European Union in January or February next year, one of Europe's top leaders said after a special summit without Britain, aimed at rallying the bloc battered by Brexit and the migration crisis.
European council president Donald Tusk said British prime minister Theresa May had told him article 50 was "likely" to be triggered in January or February next year, dashing remain voters' hopes of delaying the UK's EU exit.
The British government was also sent a stark warning not to expect any compromise on the EU’s cherished principle of free movement of people, if it wants access to the single market.
Speaking of his meeting with Ms May in London last week, Mr Tusk said the prime minister had been “open and honest” about her difficulties in launching EU exit talks this year.
“She declared that it was almost impossible to trigger article 50 this year but it’s quite likely that they will be ready, maybe in January, maybe in February, next year.” He said the rest of the EU was ready to start negotiations tomorrow.
Standing at his side, Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the European commission, vowed there would be no compromise on free movement of workers. "This is not a game," he said. "It is about the rights of ordinary people, of workers in Europe, so I can't see any possibility of compromising on that very issue."
Brexit was not top of the agenda at the one-day summit in Bratislava, as European leaders concentrated on charting a way forward for a bloc that has stumbled from crisis to crisis in recent years.
German chancellor Angela Merkel said the EU was in "a critical situation" not only because of the Brexit referendum but also "because of other difficulties that we have".
This was only the second time in 43 years EU leaders have met without the UK and the mood was solemn. At an earlier gathering the week after Brexit, EU leaders “were still shellshocked, but now it has sunk in”, one EU source said.
Nevertheless there was determination to show a united front – for a few hours at least.
In a lunchtime cruise along the Danube on a German-registered luxury boat, steered by a German captain, EU leaders quickly agreed to reassert their earlier pledge not to negotiate with the UK until the government invokes article 50.
Earlier in the day in the gilded halls of Bratislava castle, EU leaders discussed what had gone wrong with the EU.
One EU source described the discussion as polite, with no recriminations, a sharp change in tone following a ferocious war of words between Hungary and Luxembourg over asylum seekers.
But the friendly tone partly dissipated once leaders had left the castle walls.
Italy's leader, Matteo Renzi, refused to appear at a press conference with his French and German counterparts, declaring that he "was not satisfied with the conclusions on growth and immigration". Renzi, who faces a difficult referendum vote in October, said the EU was still far from meeting its post-Brexit challenges. On migration "the usual things were said again," he said.
The same splits were on display, as Hungary's prime minister, Viktor Orbán, slammed the EU's migration policy as "self-destructive and naive". Unless Germany imposed a firm ceiling on the number of immigrants it is willing to take in, a "suction effect" would continue to draw masses to Europe. "Something must happen," he said.
The Guardian