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British MEP Farage urges no delay in starting Brexit negotiations

Xinhua, July 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The British government should begin withdrawal negotiations with the European Union (EU) as quickly as possible, British eurosceptic member of European Parliament (MEP) Nigel Farage said Wednesday.

Speaking at his first European Parliament press conference after the UK's referendum vote to leave the EU, Farage batted away suggestions that Britain would end up with a worse trading relationship with the EU once withdrawal negotiations were concluded.

"Britain's current relationship with the EU is rubbish," he said.

"I hope we see a new strong prime minister in Britain who recognizes that in the real commercial world the customer is king. And we (Britain) are the customer; our trade deficit with the EU is 70 billion pounds (91 billion U.S. dollars) a year," said Farage.

Farage added that as elections take place next year in both France and Germany he expected to see German car manufacturers and French wine producers "putting big pressure" on politicians to achieve a "common sense" deal with Britain.

"Even if there is no agreement at the end of the negotiations and we end up with the worst case scenario of relying just on World Trade Organization rules, even that would be better than what we have now," Farage said.

Farage said the free movement of people would be a major issue in any future EU-Britain relationship.

He urged the next British prime minister to trigger Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon soon after coming into office so that withdrawal negotiations could start.

"We are not leaving Europe," he continued, "just the failing political union of the EU."

Farage also claimed the British referendum result offered a "beacon of hope" to other eurosceptic movements across the EU.

He pointed to events scheduled for October this year, including the Hungarian vote on refugee quotas and a rerun of Austria's elections, as likely to further the cause of hastening the end of political union.

Moreover the eurozone crisis was back, he believed, pointing to worries over the next round of Greece's debt repayments and "worrying signs" in the Italian banking sector.

Farage confirmed he was stepping down as leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) but said he would continue to sit as an MEP until his current term expires. Endit