European courts will continue to “dish out judgments” to Britain if the UK opts for a transitional deal after Brexit, an influential EU leader has warned.

The comments from Malta’s prime minister Joseph Muscat, whose government holds the rotating presidency of the EU for the first half of this year, come after Theresa May pledged to take the UK out of the jurisdiction of the European Court, The Scotsman news reports.

The Maltese premier made clear than any transition trade arrangements, which could last well into the 2020s, would see European institutions retain the upper hand.

 “An essential part of those transitional arrangements will be the governing institutions of that period,” he said, according to The Times.

“It is pretty clear to me that the institutions should be the European institutions.

“So it is not a transition period where British institutions take over, but it is a transition period where the European Court of Justice is still in charge of dishing out judgments.”

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