UK will play full EU role until exit – May

BRUSSELS: Britain will “continue to play a full role until we leave”, Prime Minister Theresa May told fellow leaders at her first EU summit .

But for many Britons in Brussels that is a forlorn hope.

Formally, yes, the heads of European Union institutions say Britain and its citizens will keep seats at council tables and in Parliament or go on with EU civil service careers in the two to three years left before it quits the 28-nation bloc.

In reality, say British lawmakers and officials in Brussels – some of whom were offered trauma counselling by employers after the Brexit referendum four months ago – they are already being sidelined, and expect further isolation.

“Why should anyone listen to us?” said a British member of the European Parliament who forecast a December mid-term reshuffle of posts such as committee chairs. “People are polite, sympathetic,” the MEP said. “But in the end, we’re leaving.” May cautioned fellow leaders not to bind Britain by decisions taken without her, as at last month’s summit of 27 in Bratislava, but they insist the EU must move on and are annoyed, for example, by London trying to thwart more EU defence co-operation.

The leader of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s centre-right bloc in the European Parliament Manfred Weber took to the BBC during last week’s summit to warn Britons that such awkward tactics risk poisoning May’s efforts to cut the kind of divorce deal she wants, keeping trade ties while curbing immigration.

Most British MEPs, including most of May’s Conservatives, opposed Brexit.

There has been anger at those who did not.

EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker demanded of Ukip leader Nigel Farage in the chamber in June: “Why are you still here?” – Reuters