PM phone call with Belgian PM Charles Michel: 27 September 2016
The Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called Prime Minister Theresa May to congratulate her on her appointment.
A Downing Street spokesperson said :
The Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel called the Prime Minister this afternoon to congratulate her on her appointment.
They agreed there were already strong ties between our 2 countries which we should now build on, including our cooperation on counter-terrorism, and the bilateral economic relationship.
On Brexit, the Prime Minister reiterated that we would not be triggering Article 50 before the end of the year, to give us time to prepare and to ensure negotiations are as smooth as possible. The Prime Minister explained that as we conducted the negotiations, it would be a priority to allow British companies to trade with the single market in goods and services, but we would also need to ensure we had more control of the numbers of people who come here from Europe.
The Prime Minister said while we would be leaving the EU, we would not be turning our backs on Europe, and that we wanted to see a strong and successful EU after our withdrawal.
They looked forward to meeting in person soon.