Substantive Brexit talks between the United Kingdom and the rest of the EU are unlikely to start much before the end of 2017, a former European Council president says, according to BBC News.
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Two days before EU leaders meet in Bratislava, Slovakia, to plot a new way ahead in the wake of Britain’s destabilizing decision to leave the bloc the first time a member has quit, Juncker said that “we have to stop this war according to which all success is national and all failure is European”.
Leaders must also compensate for Britain’s departure from the bloc.
Van Rompuy denied that there are wishes within the European Union to “punish” Britain for choosing to leave, but characterized Brexit, the result of a referendum on June 23, as “political amputation”.
“There are splits out there and often fragmentation where we need further union – that is leaving space for galloping populism”, he added, in a speech that mixed German, French and English.
Junker said it’s the position of the European Union to oversee a “fair playing field” for all member states.
With the British vote to leave having shaken the EU, Mr Juncker proposed a series of measures created to restore confidence that Europe could deliver real prosperity and security, not the ongoing austerity and uncontrolled migration of recent years.
But the difficulties of keeping Europe united were underscored on the eve of Juncker’s speech when Luxembourg’s foreign minister said Hungary should be suspended from the European Union for treating refugees like “animals”.
On the subject of Brexit, Mr Juncker urged Britain to begin withdrawal talks as soon as possible and reiterated the European Commission stance that there would be no “a la carte” deal.
There was, too, a promise of “free wireless internet” in every European village by 2020.
British Conservative lawmaker Syed Kamall in contrast accused Juncker of indulging in the kind of “supranationalism” that turned so many Britons against the bloc.
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Among eye-catching small initiatives was a proposal for a European Solidarity Corps to let young people, many of whom are suffering from stubbornly high youth unemployment, volunteer to help in crises like Italian earthquakes or Greek migrant camps. Europe was a model of cooperation and integration for many countries – of how you can achieve piece and stability.
