Bangla Mirror Desk:

European leaders insisted Britain must allow freedom of movement if it wanted to access the single market during their first meeting in Brussels without the UK.

“There will be no single market a la carte,” said Donald Tusk, the EU Council president, as the group met to set out the terms of engagement for any divorce talks in the wake of the Brexit vote.

The breakfast meeting of the 27 states in Brussels was a symbolic watershed for the EU, marking a political separation after 43 years of British membership that paves the way for London to ultimately leave the bloc.

A joint statement said the UK’s withdrawal must be done in an “orderly fashion” It said Britain should notify the EU of its intention to leave “as soon as it is ready to do so” but added it would be “preferable” to do so quickly “so as to avoid entering into a prolonged period of uncertainty”.

The statement also makes clear there would be no negotiations with Britain until it formally notifies the EU that it intends to leave the bloc, triggering the so-called Article 50 procedure that starts the clock on a divorce process.

While there remain deep divisions between the big EU states over the future direction of the organisation, diplomats say there is more unity over how to deal with David Cameron’s successor as British prime minister.

François Hollande, France’s president, said the new British government must invoke Article 50 as soon as it is formed. He said he expected this to happen in early September.

Before Wednesday’s meeting, Dalia Grybauskaite, the Lithuanian president, summed up the stoical mood as leaders contemplated life without the UK. “Today is about us. Of course we will move on. Who will stop us?” she said.

That was echoed by Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s premier, who said: “We have more need than ever for a united Union rather than a disunited kingdom.”

The EU-27 gathering comes after Mr Cameron bade an emotional farewell to the EU on Tuesday during a three-hour dinner. He claimed the Brexit vote could have been avoided if EU leaders had offered him more concessions on controlling migration. He urged the EU not to “turn its back on Europe” and maintain relations that are as close as possible after Brexit.

The jolt of the UK referendum vote has prompted soul-searching across the bloc, with pro-integrationists pitted against more sceptical leaders in northern and eastern Europe who see Britain’s vote as a wake-up call for a club that has lost touch with voters.

While some discussion of the future of the European project is due, leaders are expected to only sketch out rough priorities — such as security and economic growth — leaving the detail to a process of “reflection” that will run over several months.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said the EU was “determined to meet the challenges of the 21st century also as a 27-member bloc”. But she said Europe had to focus on “jobs, growth and competitiveness” in a post-Brexit world.

Ms Merkel acknowledged that Brexit would “create problems for our trade relations”, since Britain was the world’s fifth-largest economy, accounting for 15 to 17 per cent of the EU’s GDP. “That’s why we have an interest in focusing more on growth and efficiency to compensate for what we’re losing,” she said.

The two-day summit revealed differences within the EU-27 over how hard to push Britain in the negotiations, and how fast Mr Cameron’s successor must invoke Article 50.

Charles Michel, Belgium’s prime minister, has been one of the most vocal in urging London not to waste time. “Great Britain cannot afford a long soap opera” over its exit, he said on Tuesday.

Ms Merkel has been tempered in her demands, making clear Britain should have some time to work through a period of constitutional turmoil. Mr Cameron said there was no “clamour” for Britain to trigger the treaty exit clause.