We will use your email address only for sending you newsletters. Please see our Privacy Notice for details of your data protection rights.

Sign up fornow and never miss the top politics stories again.

Edgars Rinkevics said it was crucial that the bloc keeps Britain "as close as possible" when the UK leaves the EU next March.

And in a stark warning to Brussels, the eastern European minister said Brexit would have "consequences" for the union's future.

Speaking at an economic summit in Krynica-Zdroj, Poland, Mr Rinkevics said: "Brexit is not just a divorce from the European Union.

"It is a fact that will have consequences for the future of the whole continent. We should keep Britain as close as possible."