Hollande says Britain’s EU exit process shouldn’t ‘drag on’

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Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center rear, speaks with French President Francois Hollande, left, and Luxembourg's Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, right, during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels on Wednesday, June 29, 2016. European Union leaders are meeting without Britain for the first time since the British referendum to rethink their bloc and keep it from disintegrating after Britain’s unprecedented vote to leave. (Pascal Rossignol, Pool Photo via AP)

French President Francois Hollande says Britain’s negotiations to leave the European Union shouldn’t “drag on.”

Hollande is due to meet Thursday with British Prime Minister Theresa May, who took office last week.

Speaking in Dublin after talks with Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, Hollande said “the sooner the negotiations are open the better, and the shorter the better.”

And he warned that Britain won’t get access to the EU single market unless it allows free movement of EU workers.

May met German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday, and said Britain won’t start exit talks until “our objectives are clear” — and that won’t be before early 2017.

Merkel struck a conciliatory tone, saying “nobody wants a long-term stalemate,” but it’s reasonable to give Britain time to prepare carefully.

From Agencies, Feature image courtesy AP

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