EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Hill’s position as financial services chief would be taken by Valdis Dombrovskis, the commission vice president for the euro, but that he was open to taking a new British commissioner. “But the British people took a different decision, and that is the way that democracy works”, he said.
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“I’d like it immediately”, he added.
Meanwhile, PM David Cameron is under pressure to speed up “divorce” talks with the European Union after Brussels said exit negotiations should start immediately.
“It is not an amicable divorce but it was also not an intimate love affair”, he added.
“I don’t believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened”, Hill said in a statement a day after British voters backed Brexit in a referendum called by Prime Minister David Cameron.
The United Kingdom itself could also now break apart, with the nationalist leader of Scotland, where almost two-thirds of voters wanted to stay in the European Union, saying a new referendum on independence from the rest of Britain was “highly likely”.
At EU headquarters in Brussels, leaders were moving swiftly Friday to minimize chances that other member countries might seek the same exit. The British member of the EU executive, Financial Services Commissioner Jonathan Hill, resigned on Saturday after having campaigned against Britain leaving the European Union, APA reports quoting Reuters.
“Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure”, Juncker told Germany’s ARD television station.
The UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the European Union after 43 years.
Mr Tusk said: “We are determined to keep our unity at 27”, but acknowledged “there’s no way of predicting all the political consequences of this event, especially for the United Kingdom”.
Lord Hill, Britain’s most senior diplomat in Brussels, also expressed his disappointment regarding the result of the referendum.
“We must not resort to hectic activity, and act as if all the answers are ready”.
Britain needs to have good relations with its European neighbours whether it is in or out of the EU.
Ban said he is counting on both sides to maintain their partnerships with the United Nations on development and humanitarian issues.
With frustrations mounting at Britain’s seeming reluctance to begin divorce proceedings, German’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, has called for calm, clear-headed and businesslike discussions while other European capitals, EU leaders and her own government have demanded the UK’s rapid departure.
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Signs that the European Parliament is likely to take a robust stance in negotiations with Britain emerged as foreign ministers of the EU’s six founding member states meeting in Berlin expressed similar sentiments.
