Maltese PM says EU's four freedoms "cannot be decoupled"

Welcoming British prime minister's announcement that Britain will formally begin the Brexit process by the end of March 2017, Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said Sunday the European Union (EU)'s four freedoms "cannot be decoupled," local media reported.

On Sunday, Theresa May said she will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal mechanism for leaving the European Union, which upon being invoked, would signal the beginning of a two-year countdown within which a withdrawal deal with the EU must be agreed.

The online newspaper Malta Today said May's announcement makes it all certain but that Britain's exit negotiations with the EU will be one of the main issues Malta has to deal with when it takes over the six-month rotating presidency on Jan. 1, 2017.

It is still unclear what Malta's role, as the host of the European Council presidency, would be during the Brexit negotiations. Nonetheless, Muscat said Malta would be an "honest broker for [a] fair deal."

The prime minister also warned that the four freedoms of the EU -- namely the freedom of movement of goods, people, services, and capital -- "cannot be decoupled."

Muscat's remarks were made in light of the ongoing debate on whether Britain could still retain access to the EU single market while at the same time controlling immigration. Endit