Britain to play full EU role until exit, key partner after - May

Record ID: 84264

  • Title: Britain to play full EU role until exit, key partner after - May
  • Date: 20th October 2016
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 20, 2016) (REUTERS) JOURNALISTS MAY ENTERING COUNCIL
  • Embargoed: 4th November 2016 12:27
  • Keywords: Britain EU summit Theresa May Brexit Russia Syria sanctions
  • Location: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • City: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: European Union,Government/Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA00354T9H6V
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Britain will continue to play a full role in the European Union until its exit and will be a reliable partner afterwards, Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday (October 20) upon arrival at her first EU summit since she was appointed premier following Britain's June 23 vote to exit the bloc.
    "This is my first European Council and I'm here with a very clear message: The UK is leaving the EU but we will continue to play a full role until we leave and we'll be a strong and dependable partner after we have left. It's in the interests of both the UK and the EU that we continue to work closely together, including at this summit," she told reporters in Brussels.
    May will tell her fellow European Union leaders at the summit it is time to start talking about future EU ties with Britain and put paid to suggestions her government might reconsider Brexit.
    Highlighting her will to work with other Europeans despite the shock vote in June to quit the bloc, May said EU leaders should show a robust and united European stance "in the face of Russian aggression" adding that Britain had put a discussion of Russian actions in Syria on the agenda of the EU summit.
    "We must continue to work together and it's vital that we work together to continue to put pressure on Russia to stop its appalling atrocities, its sickening atrocities in Syria," she said.
    Russia has told the United Nations it will stop bombing eastern Aleppo for 11 hours a day for four days, but that is not enough to trigger a wider deal to have militants leave the besieged Syrian warzone, the U.N. said on Thursday.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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