President Barack Obama on Friday said that the U.S. respects the decision of British people to exit from the European Union and hoped that the United Kingdom and EU will remain “indispensable partners” of America.
Advertisement
“There is a clear plea from the majority of member states to speed this process up”, he added. He also had warned that leaving the European Union would put Britain at the “back of the queue” for a trade deal with the United States. And due to the close vote, the government must now calm nerves, especially in the financial markets, even as British citizens come to terms with the new reality.
In the most hard speech of his political career, he said he could no longer do the job when his vision for the country was so at odds with that of the people. “Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty”.
The statement was signed by European Council President Donald Tusk, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose country now holds the EU’s rotating presidency.
He added that once outside the bloc, Britain would be a “third country” – the European Union term for non-members – in terms of trade agreements but emphasized that was “not meant negatively”.
Tusk told reporters that Britain’s 27 partners were “determined to keep our unity”.
Turnout was high, at 72 percent – the highest in a national poll in more than two decades – despite torrential rainstorms on referendum day, reflecting the strong feelings that the debate evoked in a nation whose immigration rate has doubled in the past 16 years. If the United Kingdom and European Union can’t come to an agreement within two years, the European Union must either vote unanimously to extend the deadline, or the United Kingdom may be kicked out entirely without a proper trade agreement in place.
The referendum means the world’s fifth-largest economy must now go it alone in the global economy, launching lengthy exit negotiations with the bloc and brokering new deals with all the countries it now trades with under the EU’s umbrella.
The company’s Canada Life operation has had a presence in the United Kingdom since 1903. The Washington Post listed several countries in an analysis which could be the next to leave the EU. “But there’s people here in Brussels that are talking about an accelerated leave process”, he says. “It also underscores the need for us to pull together to solve our challenges as a country, not tear each other down”. Even campaigners on the Remain side have been quoted in the past as saying “nothing will change for five years” in the event of a British exit, and I believe that is not far off the mark.
Nearly 52 per cent of those who voted in the United Kingdom on Thursday supported a withdrawal from the EU.
Much will depend on turnout, with younger Britons seen as more supportive of the European Union than their elders but less likely to vote.
Whatever decisions are taken, the coming weeks and months will be frantic and uncertain, according to analysts.
Advertisement
After four months of campaigning and a huge 72 percent turnout in yesterday’s vote, the British people made a decision to end more than 40 years of partnership with the world’s biggest and richest trading bloc.
