MOSCOW (Sputnik) — It would be "absurd" for the United Kingdom to promise to EU nationals living in the country that they will be able to stay after the United Kingdom leaves the European Union, UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said Monday.
"It would be absurd to make a unilateral commitment about EU nationals living in the UK without at the very least getting a similar commitment from the EU about British nationals living in the EU," Hammond told the BBC's Today presenter Nick Robinson.
"I hope we will be able to get to a position where we are able to say to those EU nationals who live in the UK, and to those Brits who live in EU countries: everything’s fine, you can stay as you were. But we can't assume that. We’ve got to negotiate that with our former EU partners," Hammond added.
On June 23, the United Kingdom held a referendum to determine whether or not the country should leave the European Union, with over 50 percent of the UK public voting in support of Brexit.
According to the Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, each EU member state can leave the bloc. Aiming to start the process of leaving the European Union, a member state must formally inform Brussels about its intention and, then, launch negotiations on abandoning the bloc. All EU treaties become rendered void when a final agreement is achieved or – if not – two years after the country’s notification.