UK
will not guarantee EU citizens' rights, May insists
By Eszter Zalan
BRUSSELS, Today,
09:09
British prime
minister Theresa May has reiterated that the UK will guarantee the
rights of EU citizens living in the UK only if British citizens are
afforded the same rights in other EU countries.
“I intend to be
able to guarantee their rights. The only circumstances in which that
would not be possible would be if the rights of British citizens
living in other EU member states were not guaranteed," May said
on Wednesday (27 July) at a press conference with her Italian
counterpart Matteo Renzi in Rome.
The protection of EU
citizens residing in the UK is important for Italy, as 600,000
Italians live in Britain, according to figures by the Guardian
newspaper.
May visited Berlin
and Paris last week, as she prepares the UK's exit negotiations from
the EU.
Both German
chancellor Angela Merkel and French president Francois Hollande told
May last week that the UK could only gain continued access to the
single market if it agreed to freedom of movement from the EU, one of
the core pillars of the bloc.
May is not expected
to launch the official talks before the end of the year.
Renzi urged May to
give a "clear timeline" on the UK's exit from the bloc, as
uncertainty hurts other EU members.
"It's important
to have a vision and precise timeline for the process," Renzi
said.
The Italian prime
minister has been facing a challenge by the anti-euro Five Star
Movement, putting his accommodating style towards Britain under
strain.
Renzi suggested
Britain should face the consequences of its decision, otherwise it
would represent a credibility problem for others.
Boris in Paris
The new British
foreign minister and former Leave campaigner Boris Johnson is to
travel to Paris to meet his French counterpart on Thursday, who
denounced him as a liar recently.
After the Brexit
vote Jean-Marc Ayrault said: “During the campaign, you know he told
a lot of lies to the British people and now it is him who has his
back against the wall. He is up against it to defend his country and
also so that the relationship with Europe is clear.”
On the day of his
appointment, Johnson was booed by some members of the crowd at the
French ambassador’s residence at the Bastille Day celebrations.
Although Johnson is
not in charge of Brexit talks, his visit to Paris comes at an
especially important time. Paris has become an even more important
interlocutor as the EU Commission appointed former French
commissioner Michel Barnier as its lead EU negotiator.
Barnier is expected
in London as a tough negotiator, especially when it comes to allowing
UK-based banks to operate in the eurozone and maintain full access to
the single market.
Barnier was in
charge of the internal market during his spell as commissioner.
Meanwhile, a senior
Deutsche Bank manager has already suggested his bank has a
"competitive advantage" because it has centres in both
London and Frankfurt.
Fears among UK-based
banks grow that they will not have access to the single market or
eurozone countries, unless they move their headquarters to the
continent.
The bank's Chief
Executive Officer John Cryan was quoted by Bloomberg as saying: "If
our eurozone clients in particular increasingly want us to be facing
them from locations within the eurozone, if that proves to be the
case, then we’re reasonably well positioned because our head office
and home is in the centre of the eurozone."
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