Updated | Malta to host Brexit negotiations, Muscat says EU's four freedoms 'cannot be decoupled'

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has welcomed UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s announcement that the UK will launch formal Brexit talks with EU leaders before the end of March 2017, during Malta’s presidency of the European Council.

On Sunday, 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.

May’s announcement makes it all but certain 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 January 1 of next year.

#Malta #EU Presidency geared to handle Art50 trigger by @theresa_may. Will be honest brokers for fair deal. 4freedoms cannot be decoupled-JM

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) October 2, 2016

It is still not clear on 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 the UK could still retain access to the single market while at the same time controlling immigration.

On Sunday, UK Prime Minister Theresa May suggested that regaining control of immigration was more important than access to the single market.

“Let me be clear. We are not leaving the European Union only to give up control of immigration again. And we are not leaving only to return to the jurisdiction of the European court of justice,” May said while addressing the Conservative party conference in Birmingham.

Earlier on Sunday, May promised to trigger article 50 before the end of March 2017, meaning the UK will leave the EU by spring 2019, before its next general election.

The UK Prime Minister also announced plans for a “great repeal bill” to incorporate all EU regulations in UK law as soon as Brexit takes effect. May told the conference that when the European Communities Act is repealed, the EU law would be converted into British statute, which could be changed or repealed as parliament chose.

May told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show on Sunday that she wanted to give “greater degree of clarity about the sort of timetable we are following” over the process for leaving the EU.

May said: “As you know, I’ve been saying that we wouldn’t trigger before the end of this year so that we can get some preparation in place ... But yes, I will be saying in my speech today that we will trigger before the end of March next year.”

“This is about delivering for the British people, and this is not just about leaving the EU, it’s about that essential question of the trust people have in their politicians. The people have spoken, we will deliver on that,” May told Marr.

May said she believed it was important to have a deal in place with the EU, hinting that was preferable to a so-called ‘hard Brexit’ in which the UK leaves the bloc without a formal deal in place for a continued trading relationship.

“Things will be different in the future, once we leave the EU, we’ll be in a different position. We’ll be an independent country. Crucially, we still do want to have a good relationship with Europe and the European Union,” she said.