Merkel said it “shouldn’t take forever” for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the European Union but made clear that the matter was in London’s hands.
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the European Union has “no should be especially terrible in any manner” in the discussions with Britain about its departure in the bloc.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she “greatly regretted” the United Kingdom decision before urging people to remain calm and to avoid making hasty decisions.
“Today is a watershed for Europe, it is a watershed for the European unification process”.
European Parliament President Martin Schulz said he was speaking to Ms Merkel to avoid a “chain reaction” of eurosceptic success across Europe, adding that it would “absolutely not happen”.
“I have therefore invited EU Council President Donald Tusk, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to Berlin for talks on Monday”.
In his first public reaction to the vote, Obama said the people of the United Kingdom had spoken. Other member states, they say, might support to leave.
Trade was her theme at the start of June when she said: “And regarding the trade relations which are important for Germany and Great Britain and for all of us, one country alone can not reach such good results”.
Similarly, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister Nurettin Canikli said on Friday that UK’s vote to leave the European Union marks the beginning of the disintegration of the bloc. On both security and economic affairs, Britain remained was an essential partner and liaison to broader Europe for the U.S., Obama said then, suggesting that status would be diminished if it withdrew from the union.
However, she warned of “quick and easy conclusions”.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “very sad” that Britain had voted to leave, but repeated that there would be “no renegotiation” of Britain’s membership.
“Birth of a new Britain”, the Daily Telegraph said, while the Daily Star tabloid borrowed from Donald Trump’s campaigning message with its headline “Now Let’s Make Britain Great Again”.
The UK should invoke Article 50 of the EU Lisbon Treaty in order to set out a two-year timetable for negotiations on withdrawal. “Brexit quake”, the Times said.
Earlier, top EU officials tried to put on a courageous face as the European enterprise – already wracked by economic woes, Greece’s shaky future in the euro and Europe’s inability to manage the refugee emergency – came face to face with yet another existential challenge.
German officials are anxious France, the Netherlands, Austria, Finland and Hungary could also seek to leave the European Union after Britain’s vote, German newspaper Die Welt said on Friday, citing a finance ministry strategy paper.
“The (German coalition) government as a whole has agreed to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation decision that over the longer term we should dedicate 2 percent of gross domestic product to defence spending”, she told a news conference after a meeting with Polish officials.
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Hollande, whose country was a founding pillar of European unity, is holding emergency meetings Saturday with leaders of France’s political parties as EU leaders try to keep the bloc from unravelling after the British vote.
