Some explanations for the outcome of the British vote to leave the European Union are specific to Britain.
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“It is not an amicable divorce but it was also not an intimate love affair”, he added.
Britons voted 52-to 48 percent Thursday in favor of ending their country’s 43-year membership in the 28-nation bloc.
The EU formed after World War II in an effort to assuage the effects of the conflict and to link the region’s countries under the umbrella of democracy, later evolving into the coalition the world knows today.
Under Article 50, Britain’s notification will set the clock ticking on a two-year period of negotiations within which a basic withdrawal agreement should be made. Party members will then choose the victor. It has angered European Union leaders who want a quick settlement to limit uncertainty.
Earlier Friday, Trump likened his candidacy to the referendum vote and said should he win the presidency in November, he would work to strengthen ties between the US and an independent Britain.
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.
By Saturday, more than 2 million people had signed a petition demanding a second referendum vote to reverse the decision to exit the EU.
Though British voters haven’t picked a replacement, an early favorite is former London Mayor Boris Johnson, a forceful voice for leaving the European Union who once suggested that Obama had an “ancestral dislike of the British Empire” due to his Kenyan roots.
“This process should get underway as soon as possible so that we are not left in limbo but rather can concentrate on the future of Europe”, he said after hosting a meeting of his colleagues from the six founding members of the EU – Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
“Inward investment by China into the United Kingdom under the dialogue has been focused on infrastructure projects and I wouldn’t expect that should change with Brexit, but on financial services projects with China, that’s at significant risk now”, said Andrew Naylor, a Singapore-based executive director at Cicero Group, a consultancy that has been helping Asian financial firms weigh the Brexit risks.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault warned, “We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap”. That appeared to be a reversal of a pledge to launch the process immediately after the vote. But political pressure and economic instability may force British politicians to act more quickly than they had hoped.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the result a “blow” to Europe while French President Francois Hollande admitted it was a “grave test”.
“There is no need to be particularly nasty in any way in the negotiations”.
The Bank of England, European Central Bank and the People’s Bank of China all said they were ready to provide liquidity if needed to ensure global market stability.
“Leave” campaigners have hailed the result as a victory for British democracy against the bureaucratic behemoth of the EU.
Many newspapers used downcast photos of British Prime Minister David Cameron announcing his resignation as his wife Samantha looked on. “New PM will need to analyse options and have informal talks”.
Britain will remain an European Union member until the divorce is finalized, but its influence inside the bloc is already waning.
“David Cameron was quite right”. However, there is no mechanism in the United Kingdom for the public to trigger a referendum – the most that a petition can achieve is a debate among lawmakers.
The U.K.’s surprise move triggered huge selloffs in stock markets worldwide with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping more than 600 points on Friday.
European stock markets dropped around eight percent at opening before recovering later, while British bank shares lost a quarter of their value in morning trade. “It is high time for Slovakia to leave the sinking European “Titanic” as well”.
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With the financial consequences of Brexit causing increasing concern, influential credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the UK’s outlook to “negative”, warning it was facing “a prolonged period of uncertainty” with implications for the country’s medium-term growth.
