EU leaders 'not bluffing' over Brexit position, says Malta PM
EU leaders were not "bluffing" about denying the UK access to the single market after Brexit if it did not agree to free movement of people, Malta Prime Minister Joseph Muscat warned on Friday.
Malta takes on the EU presidency in January and Muscat (pictured) told the BBC "this is really and truly our position and I don't see it changing".
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK will trigger the the legal process to leave the EU by March. Hardline eurosceptics want a “quick divorce” from the EU with no single market access and full control over immigration policy.
However, in his interview, Muscat said the UK and EU needed to first reach agreement on a range of other details once May invokes Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
He said these included the bill the UK must pay before leaving, establishing what will happen to the UK-Republic of Ireland border and working out interim arrangements on issues like security.
Asked about a suggestion from Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson that the UK could in theory stay in single market and place limits on the freedom of movement of EU citizens, Muscat said: "It's just not happening".
"All of us have been pretty clear in our approach that we want a fair deal for the UK but that kind of fair deal can't translate itself into a superior deal.”
"I know that there is absolutely no bluffing from the European side, at least in the council meetings I have attended, saying 'we will start in this position and then we will soften up'.”
"We (the EU) are going to lose something but there will not be a situation when the UK has a better deal than it has today," he added.