Many European leaders will want to punish Britain for leaving by offering it a bad deal.
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Despite voting to Leave the EU, Britain remains a member of the bloc until Article 50 is activated.
The margin of victory for “Brexit” in the referendum was 52% to 48%.
“The union will not be ruptured, things will stay as they are now because that’s what the powers want”, Lendman said.
Mr Obama, who had warned against Britain quitting the European Union, said on Friday that Washington would respect the British voters’ decision to do just that. “The will of the British people is an instruction that must be delivered”. Speaking outside 10 Downing Street, he said “fresh leadership” was needed.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, announcing his resignation, insisted however that it would and should be up to his successor to begin the process, most likely in October. He is now widely tipped to seek his job. There are five presidents of the EU. She figures she has time on her side, given the closeness of the vote.
The ministers also released a statement pledging to address divergent attitudes toward the European Union from its remaining member nations.
EU officials now say triggering Britain’s exit may be done simply by Mr Cameron confirming the will of the British people at the European Council, which he is due to attend next week.
“But I do not think it would be right for me to try to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination”.
Cameron, who lost his gamble betting the nation’s future on an outcome he predicted would be catastrophic, said he would resign as prime minister by October.
The vote led to crash of financial markets.
The referendum has triggered political and financial turmoil around the world. The Bank of England is ready to provide an extra £250bn of support, he added.
Their decision pounded sterling and global stock markets.
“We now expect the United Kingdom government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible”, the ministers from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg said in a joint statement. However Janet Yellen, the chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, said Wednesday, before the referendum, that she did not plan any special meetings to respond to the result.
European politicians reacted with dismay.
“It looks like a sad day for Europe and Britain”, said German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
It’s very destabilising, and I really wish that the prime minister had never called this referendum; and I also wish that economists had behaved a little more sensibly… Anti-immigrant and anti-EU political parties have been surging across the continent, loosening the grip of the center-left and center-right establishment parties that have governed Europe for generations.
Other options include a free trade deal with the EU or a customs union similar to that between Turkey and the EU. “It’s an explosive shock”. “Now is the time to invent another Europe”.
Moscow maintained its stance that the British referendum was of little direct concern. The UK government has estimated that exit could cause the British economy to be between 3.8 and 7.5 percent smaller by 2030 – depending on how well negotiations go. The EU referendum seems to have revealed an ancient, jagged fault line across the United Kingdom.
London would have to negotiate the status of the two million Britons living or working in the EU.
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The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, said he wanted to start negotiations on Britain’s exit from the EU immediately.
