EU leaders agree that Britain can not have access to the common market after leaving the union unless it accepts the principle of free movement, EU Council President Donal Tusk has announced.
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Speaking as European Union leaders gathered without Britain in Brussels, Mr Michel said there is a “perception of technocracy”, but the bloc must now “show that Europe brings a real added value that can be felt by our fellow citizens”.
Mr Tusk had also repeated the hardline stance of Brussels bosses who have vowed not to hold any informal exit talks with Britain until it activates Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the legal process by which a member state quits.
The poll also showed the French were not inclined to follow Britain’s example and hold a vote on their European Union membership.
Four other Conservatives are competing with May to take the helm of Britain’s governing party following Cameron’s resignation in the immediate wake of his referendum defeat.
“Europe is ready to start the divorce process, even today”, EU Council President Donald Tusk said, but added that he understood that time was needed “for the dust to settle” in Britain before the next steps can be taken.
“They have said “no negotiation, without notification” but I don’t think that excludes discussion that a new prime minister can have with partners or indeed with the institutions so that we continue to get off on the right foot”, he said.
She said: “Britain knows what to do after what they did”.
They emerged from the summit insisting that the “four freedoms” central to European unity are indivisible: the free movement of people, services, goods and finances.
Ivo Daalder, a former USA ambassador to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation and the president of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, said Britain’s ability to press its views and policy preferences with its European allies and within North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, where it provided strong political backing to the United States, will be diminished.
“The rest of the EU feel they bent over backwards to accommodate Cameron over the last months and he launched this reckless referendum and lost it, so the other EU states are in no mood to do him any favors”, said Mark Leonard, director of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “It would be the same for the United Kingdom with a much higher fee”.
The initial EU founding nations in the west lean toward a tighter, closer union while newer nations in the east want to keep more control with national governments – notably of their borders.
Outgoing UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that the issue of freedom of movement would be for the next PM and government to decide. He said “we have to show that Europe brings a real added value that can be felt by our fellow citizens”.
Blair did not call for a second referendum on European Union membership but did say: “Actually the people do have a right to change their mind”.
Europe is refusing to engage in talks, formal or informal, until Article 50 is triggered. Former London Mayor Johnson and Home Secretary Theresa May are also expected to run. It was unclear, though, how “many of these positive attributes” would be in place once the process of an European Union exit is completed.
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The US president after meeting with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts expressed confidence in the global financial system’s resilience however, as markets rebounded Wednesday from post-Brexit losses following a bruising two-day rout.
