Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, said she will push for a referendum to decide whether her country should remain part of the U.K. Scots voted overwhelmingly to stay in the European Union in Thursday’s polls. The Wall Street Journal says Britain can’t just unilaterally scrap legislation and escape the EU without breaking a whole host of European and worldwide laws.
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Roaming fees The EU introduced caps on mobile phone roaming charges for EU citizens who use their phones in other EU countries. If the European Union fails to reach an agreement on Britain’s exit in under two years, member states can extend negotiations by a unanimous vote. But many voters proved resistant to Cameron’s message that Britain is stronger, safer and more economically secure within the European Union than it would be outside it.
Meanwhile, Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon said her semi-autonomous administration would start immediate talks with the European Union to ensure Scotland could remain in the bloc despite the United Kingdom -wide vote to leave. Earlier today, Ms Sturgeon said she and her colleagues would begin talking to Brussels officials next week about Scotland remaining in the EU.
EU lawmaker Manfred Weber of the European People’s Party, the largest in the European Parliament, said Britain’s decision to leave the EU “causes major damage to both sides”.
The victorious “leave” campaigners have said there’s no rush to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty, which will begin a two-year exit process to renegotiate trade, business and political links between the United Kingdom and what will become a 27-nation bloc.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced his resignation on Friday and said his successor, to be chosen by October, should be the one to start the process of withdrawing from the bloc. But other members of his party – including former London Mayor Boris Johnson – campaigned for a “Leave” vote.
“Nothing changes right away, so even this is not enough of a direct shock to trigger an immediate strong reaction”, another diplomat said of the ministers’ Brexit discussion over lunch.
76 per cent of holidays overseas that Brits undertook in 2014 were in EU countries -63 per cent of inbound visitors in 2014 were from the EU -The UK’s biggest source market of inbound visitors from within the EU is France, followed by Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands -The most popular European destinations among British travellers are Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Greece. “Europe has to continue”, Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders, who chaired the sitting of the bloc’s generally humdrum General Affairs Council, told reporters.
Weber called for the decision to be quickly implemented.
France’s Ayrault suggested Britain could name a new prime minister within “several days” – but that is likely instead to take several months.
Conservative Party rules call for the party’s members of Parliament to choose two candidates through a series of ballots, and then the entire party’s membership will choose between those two. This is done by invoking a provision known as Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.
He added: “Negotiations of leaving and the future relationship can only begin after such a formal notification”.
“There is no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations. They must be conducted properly”, Merkel said at a news conference in Potsdam, outside Berlin.
Campaigners for “leave” dismissed this as scare-mongering. “New PM will need to analyse options and have informal talks”.
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European Union members must “prove to be willing and able to not draw quick and simple conclusions from the referendum in Great Britain, which would only further divide Europe”, she said, adding that her counterparts “should “calmly and prudently analyse and evaluate the situation” before making lasting decisions”.
