Tusk: Brexit procedures to start in early 2017

European Council President Donald Tusk said that British PM Theresa May had told him that the procedures necessary to initiate Brexit should begin in January or February next year. “She declared that it was almost impossible to trigger article 50 this year but it’s quite likely that they will be ready, maybe in January, maybe in February, next year,” Tusk said after the meeting in Bratislava, adding that the statement brought "welcome clarity” to the process. “Once Article 50 is triggered, EU27 will engage to safeguard its interests,” Tusk later wrote on his twitter account. EU leaders and officials have consistently argued that, legally, they cannot open exit negotiations with the UK until Article 50 has been invoked.