May says Britain wants to be EU's 'strongest partner'

(ANSA) - Rome, September 22 - British Prime Minister Theresa May said Friday that the UK wants to be EU's "strongest friend and partner" after it leaves the bloc in a hotly awaited speech on Brexit in Florence. She added that the rights of EU citizens in the UK will be fully guaranteed after Brexit. "I'm clear the guarantee giving on your rights is real," she said in an address aiming a breaking the deadlock in the Brexit negotiations. Britain may be leaving the EU, "but we are not leaving Europe", she said.