That timeframe is highly unrealistic given the political turmoil in Britain.
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The aftershocks of last week’s referendum are already beginning to ricochet through Europe and are reshaping the U.K.’s political landscape a day after Prime Minister David Cameron announced his intention to resign.
However, Mr Cameron said he preferred to leave negotiations to his successor.
That’s why you’ve been hearing the words “EU” and “reform” of late from the nervous mouths of some you’d least expect, such as Germany’s Angela Merkel, and Donald Tusk.
The Handelsblatt newspaper said a leaked eight-page emergency Brexit plan suggested the German government should push for an “associative status” for Britain after two years of “difficult divorce negotiations”.
Online petitions – which take little effort and are easy to game – are poor measures of popular opinion, but any petition which draws more than 100,000 names must be considered for debate in Parliament.
“Great Britain continues to be a full member of the European Union with all rights and responsibilities”.
In another interview, with Bild newspaper, he said it was “first and foremost” a matter for Britain’s European Union commissioner Lord Jonathan Hill to decide whether to stay in his role, in charge of European Union financial services.
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said Britain’s planned departure was “not an amicable divorce” but called for it to be quick.
“Yes, I’m here”, Corbyn said when asked after a speech if he’d contest another leadership election.
In London, Jeremy Corbyn made clear he would fight any attempt to unseat him by MPs blaming him for a “lacklustre” referendum campaign. Several are trying to rally support behind a bid to unseat Corbyn.
“A new prime minister must be designated, that will take a few days”, he told reporters at the crisis talks after Britain’s shock referendum to quit the EU. “The people have spoken and we need to implement this decision”. Moody’s Investors Service lowered its outlook on Britain to negative from stable last night, referring to “heightened uncertainty” as the country begins the long process of withdrawing from the EU.
Sturgeon says voters in Scotland gave “emphatic” backing to remaining in the bloc.
“We are determined to act decisively, but in a way that builds unity across Scotland about the way forward”, Sturgeon said after a meeting of her cabinet.
Lord Hill said: “I don’t believe it is right that I should carry on as the British commissioner as though nothing had happened”.
The six ministers meeting outside of Berlin agreed, one after another, that they had no interest in allowing a political vacuum develop and wanted Britain out of the European Union sooner rather than later.
Also present are the foreign ministers of France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg. They also spoke of the need for a speedy renegotiation.
After the results of Britain’s referendum were announced on June 24, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande made calls for the European Union to reform in order to survive the pending split with Britain.
“I am confident that these countries can also send a message that we won’t let anyone take Europe from us”, Steinmeier said ahead of the Berlin meet.
Already yesterday, Martin Schulz, the head of the EU Parliament, told The Guardian that it was hard to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”, and that lawyers were now looking to speed up the triggering of the article. Hollande said France will continue a relationship with the United Kingdom on military and economic matters.
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Steinmeier had opened the meeting with a heartfelt plea for the European Union to remain united even in crisis. He was heading into meetings Saturday with his counterparts from France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg. More than 17.4 million Britons said the country should leave the bloc, as just over 16.14 million others favored remaining in the EU.
