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EU governments pile pressure on UK to leave as soon as possible EU governments pile pressure on UK to leave as soon as possible
(about 2 hours later)
European Union governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the bloc quickly, saying talks on the UK’s exit must begin soon and and urging a new British prime minister to take office quickly. EU governments have piled pressure on the UK to leave the bloc as soon as possible, saying talks on the UK’s exit must begin promptly and urging a new British prime minister to take office quickly.
Related: What is Article 50 and why is it so central to the Brexit debate?Related: What is Article 50 and why is it so central to the Brexit debate?
As Europe scrambled on Saturday to respond to the momentous Brexit vote, foreign ministers from the EU’s six founding members states meeting in emergency session in Berlin demanded the earliest possible start to the Brexit process. As Europe scrambled on Saturday to limit the damage from the momentous Brexit vote, however, there seemed little it could immediately do to force Britain to speed up the pace of its departure from the 60-year-old bloc.
France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Britain “must trigger” article 50 – the procedure for leaving the EU, adding that it was urgent Cameron step aside for a new leader to manage the transition out of the union. “A new prime minister must be designated, that will take a few days,” he said. Meeting for emergency talks in Berlin, foreign ministers from the EU’s six founding member states demanded the earliest possible start to the Brexit process. France’s foreign minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, said Britain must trigger article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, the procedure for leaving the EU.
It would “not be respectful” for Britain to delay the process, Ayrault added. “It’s a question of respect.” On Friday, Cameron said he would delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor as prime minister was in place in the autumn. There was “a certain urgency”, Ayrault said after the meeting with his counterparts from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg, adding that David Cameron should step aside soon for a new leader to manage the transition out of the union.
The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who convened the talks, said the six European foreign ministers “join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible, so we don’t end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and work towards it”. “A new prime minister must be designated, that will take a few days,” he said, adding that it would “not be respectful” to delay the process. On Friday, Cameron had said he would delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor was in place in the autumn.
There is “a certain urgency”, Ayrault added after the meeting with his counterparts from Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg, warning of “financial consequences, political consequences”. The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said the ministers “join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible, so we don’t end up in an extended limbo period”.
Steinmeier said Cameron had a “responsibility beyond the UK” to initiative formal steps for Britain’s exit and “give us a chance to engage with the European Union’s future ... We call on Britain to trigger article 50 as soon as possible so we don’t get stuck in a deadlocked situation,” he told a press conference outside the German foreign ministry guest house on the outskirts of Berlin. Steinmeier told a press conference at the German foreign ministry guesthouse on the outskirts of Berlin that Cameron had a “responsibility beyond the UK” to initiate formal steps for Britain’s exit and “give us a chance to engage with the European Union’s future … We call on Britain to trigger article 50 as soon as possible.”
Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said waiting for Cameron’s successor to trigger article 50 in October could mean that the four months turned into “a period of insecurity ... I hope we won’t get into a cat and mouse game over this – that would neither be fitting for Britain nor the European Union.” Earlier, the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said there was no reason to wait until October to begin negotiating Britain’s departure.
“We have to turn the page, we don’t want to create a vacuum,” said the Dutch foreign minister, Bert Koenders. “It won’t be business as usual.”
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, speaking separately at a news conference in Potsdam, said it “shouldn’t take forever” for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the EU, but added: “I would not fight over a short period of time.”
Related: EU referendum: Pro-Brexit MEP admits free movement of labour may not end – live
Britain’s European commissioner, Jonathan Hill, said on Saturday he was resigning following the Brexit vote, saying he did not “believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened”.
Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, was due to fly to Paris for an informal dinner with the French president, François Hollande, to discuss the fallout from Thursday’s vote, which sent the pound plunging to its lowest level since 1985 and wiped more than $2tn of value from world stock markets.
After a meeting on Saturday with the UN secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, Hollande vowed to maintain relations with the UK on military and economic matters – and particularly on migration – but admitted that the Brexit vote posed questions “for the entire planet – what will happen?”.
The flurry of diplomatic activity came ahead of a key meeting in Berlin on Monday between Merkel, Hollande and Renzi, as well as the president of the European council, Donald Tusk.
The EU’s 28 commissioners, including the UK’s Lord Hill, are also due to meet in Brussels on Monday, with a two-day summit of national leaders following on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Cameron will attend the first day of the summit and is expected to explain Britain’s position at a dinner on Tuesday evening. But he will then return to London and will not take part in the second day of the proceedings, according to Tusk’s invitation letter released on Friday night.
The talks come after the president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, confirmed the bloc wanted Britain out as soon as possible and warned that Cameron’s timescale may not be fast enough.
Schulz told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty – the untested procedure for leaving the union.
He said it was difficult to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”, adding that he doubted the timing of article 50 was down to the UK alone. He said: “We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word.”
Schulz’s comments were partially echoed by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said there was no reason to wait until October to begin negotiating Britain’s departure.
“Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure,” Juncker told Germany’s ARD television station. “I would like to get started immediately.”“Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure,” Juncker told Germany’s ARD television station. “I would like to get started immediately.”
With anti-European sentiment on the rise across the continent, national governments outside Europe’s capital sought urgently to prevent any contagion from the UK vote, urging swift reforms to the 60-year-old bloc. Calls for similar referendums were made in France, the Netherlands and Sweden. Luxembourg’s foreign minister, Jean Asselborn, said he hoped “we won’t get into a cat and mouse game over this. That would neither be fitting for Britain nor the European Union.”
Cameron said in his resignation speech on Friday that it would be up to his successor – expected to be appointed before the Conservative party conference in October – to trigger article 50. Once that is done, the clock starts running on two years of negotiations. The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, speaking separately at a news conference in Potsdam, said that it “shouldn’t take forever” for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the EU, but she “would not fight over a short period of time”.
Related: EU referendum: Pro-Brexit MEP admits free movement of labour may not end – live
Making it clear that the matter was ultimately in London’s hands, Merkel said there was “no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations. They must be conducted properly”.
Much as the EU might like Britain to go fast, there are few legal means to compel it to start the process of leaving. “There is no mechanism to compel a state to withdraw from the European Union,” said Kenneth Armstrong, professor of European law at Cambridge University.
“Article 50 is there to allow withdrawal, but no other party has the right to invoke article 50, no other state or institution. While delay is highly undesirable politically, legally there is nothing that can compel a state to withdraw.” Article seven of the Lisbon treaty can be used to suspend a member state for breaching fundamental EU rights, but it is considered a “nuclear option”, and Britain has done nothing to warrant it.
The shock waves from Thursday’s vote continue to spread, having already driven sterling down to its lowest level for 30 years and wiping more than $2tn from the value of world stock markets. Britain’s European commissioner, Jonathan Hill, said on Saturday that he would resign, saying he did not “believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened”.
Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, was expected in Paris to meet the French president, François Hollande, who said on Saturday that Europe had to offer people “a perspective” in the face of mounting populism. “It is always easier to unmake than make, but the consequences are extremely serious,” he said on a visit to the eastern French city of Colmar.
The flurry of diplomatic activity came ahead of a key meeting in Berlin on Monday between Merkel, Hollande, Renzi and the president of the European council, Donald Tusk.
The EU’s 28 commissioners are due to meet in Brussels on Monday, with a two-day summit of national leaders following on Tuesday and Wednesday.
With Euroscepticism on the rise across the continent, many have said the Brexit vote must be seen as a wakeup call for a union increasingly losing touch with its people.
Cameron will attend the first day of the summit and is expected to explain Britain’s position at a dinner on Tuesday evening. He will then return to London and will not take part in the second day of the proceedings, according to Tusk’s invitation letter released on Friday night.
Cameron’s position is that it would be up to his successor, expected to be appointed before the Conservative party conference in October, to trigger article 50. Once that is done, the clock starts running on two years of negotiations.
Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading leave campaigner, said there should be “no haste” in the preparations for the exit of Britain, the first sovereign country to vote to leave the union.Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading leave campaigner, said there should be “no haste” in the preparations for the exit of Britain, the first sovereign country to vote to leave the union.
Tusk said the 27 remaining members of the bloc would meet next week to assess its future without Britain. “It is a historic moment, but not a moment for hysterical reactions,” he said. The president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50.
In Berlin, Merkel, expressed “great regret” at Britain’s decision, but said the EU should not draw “quick and simple conclusions” that might create new and deeper divisions. He said it was difficult to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”, adding that he doubted the timing of article 50 was down to the UK alone.
The Handelsblatt newspaper said a leaked eight-page emergency Brexit plan suggested the German government should push for an “associative status” for Britain after two years of “difficult divorce negotiations”. “We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word,” he said.
The document indicated that Germany would drive a hard bargain to “avoid offering false incentives for other member states when settling on new arrangements”. Specifically, the paper advocates “no automatic access to the single market”, Handelsblatt reported on Friday afternoon.
While Brussels talked tough, a chorus of European capitals, anxious to avoid clashes with their own Eurosceptic citizens, stressed that the Brexit vote should be seen as a wakeup call for a union that was increasingly losing touch with its people.
Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the EU had to become “more relevant, deliver added value to our lives: jobs, growth, control of our external borders”.
He said he personally felt “this strong discontent with Europe, the Europe of the lofty speeches. Most of my EU colleagues also share this view. They too don’t want any more big visions, conventions and treaties.”