AMN / LONDON
British Prime Minister Theresa May has proposed a two-year transition period for the UK after its leaves the EU, suggesting that Britain would continue to “honour its commitments” under the bloc’s current budget.
Delivering a keynote speech in Florence outlining the Brexit process and the future relationship between the European Union and the United Kingdom, Mrs May said it was in everyone’s interests to find a creative solution on a future trading relationship with the European Union.
She confirmed that the UK intends to leave both the single market and customs union, but said it was in an “unprecedented” position to forge a new trading relationship.
She proposed a two-year transition period for the UK after its leaves the EU.
Neither the European Economic Area relationship enjoyed by countries like Norway nor a Canadian-style free trade agreement would be “best for the UK or best for the EU”, she said, adding: “We can do so much better than that.”
She called on European leaders and institutions to be “creative” in designing a new economic partnership with the UK and said there was good justification for this level of “ambition and optimism”, because of the close existing links and shared values between Britain and the EU and the EU’s record of forging creative agreements with countries outside the union.
Mrs May said there are “unique issues to consider when it comes to Northern Ireland”.
She said the British and Irish governments, and the EU as a whole, have made it clear that progress made in Northern Ireland in recent years would be protected.