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Theresa May will head to Berlin and Paris in first foreign trip as PM May to talk cooperation and Brexit with Merkel and Hollande
(about 3 hours later)
Theresa May is to hold her first face-to-face meetings with European leaders as prime minister when she travels to Berlin and Paris later this week. Theresa May will hold bilateral talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, François Hollande, in her first overseas trip this week, as Britain’s decision to leave the EU looks set to dominate her premiership.
Britain’s vote to leave the EU is certain to be high on the agenda for May’s talks with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, François Hollande, on her first overseas trip as PM. The prime minister will start with a meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, followed by talks in Paris on Thursday evening, that will focus both on building good relations in the aftermath of the Brexit vote and early discussions on the process itself.
It is usual for incoming premiers to make early visits to establish personal links with key European leaders, but this week’s trip will be highly charged by the outcome of the 23 June referendum and the need to shape a new relationship between the UK and its continental neighbours. “This will be an opportunity to discuss the bilateral relationship, cooperation on a range of global challenges, and of course how the UK and Germany can work together as the UK prepares to leave the EU,” the prime minister’s official spokeswoman said of the Berlin talks.
A Downing Street spokesman said: “The prime minister will make her first overseas visits this week. On Wednesday, following prime minister’s questions, she will travel to Berlin for a bilateral meeting and a working dinner with Chancellor Merkel. This will be an opportunity to discuss the bilateral relationship, cooperation on a range of global challenges, and of course how the UK and Germany can work together as the UK prepares to leave the EU. The French talks would cover a similar area but also focus on “Thursday’s attack in Nice and counter-terrorism cooperation”, she added.
“Then on Thursday, the prime minister will visit France for a bilateral meeting with President Hollande at the Élysée. The talks are likely to cover similar issues as those in Berlin, as well as Thursday’s attack in Nice and counter-terrorism cooperation.” May’s first week began with a visit on Monday to Wales, and there are plans to complete meetings in all four corners of the United Kingdom with a trip to Northern Ireland in coming weeks.
May will lead Monday’s parliamentary debate over renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent, and on Tuesday she will convene her first cabinet meeting and, later, a session of the national security council.
On Wednesday May will attend her first session of prime minister’s questions, before embarking on the foreign trip.
No 10 said Merkel and Hollande had invited May to attend meetings and there would clearly be conversations about Brexit, but also about the bilateral relations with each country.
May will be received with military honours and meet her German counterpart for a working dinner on Thursday afternoon and evening.
Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the German leader was looking forward to hearing the new British prime minister’s views but ruled out any talks about bilateral trade deals until the UK had formally left the EU.
“It’s up to Britain to think through how it wants to shape its relationship to the European Union,” Seibert said.
The European leaders are likely to underline their positions that formal talks with Britain regarding the exit process can only get under way when article 50 is triggered.
The meeting will come after May’s new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, who led the campaign for Brexit, attends meetings in Brussels.
The former London mayor could encounter some hostility from European politicians who were put out by his claim during the referendum campaign that the EU was trying to build a superstate as Adolf Hitler had attempted to do.
May’s spokeswoman dismissed suggestions that her first official visit to Edinburgh for a meeting with Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, had resulted in handing over a veto on the issue of Brexit. “The prime minister talked about a UK approach … She wants a close working relationship with the Scottish first minister,” the spokeswoman said.
She said May wanted to work constructively with Sturgeon, but said there could be no stepping away from the Brexit decision.
“The final say has already taken place,” she said, adding that ultimately the decision over when and how Brexit took place would be a “decision for the UK government”.