– Britain in turmoil -Top of the agenda on Wednesday will be how the remaining 27 members of the bloc can increase unity after the shock of the British vote.
Advertisement
Mr Cameron said contrary to some reports the “overwhelming view” of the European Council is that the United Kingdom should “take some time” before triggering Article 50 after the nation voted for Brexit on June 23.
With Cameron the most high-ranking of a raft of political victims of the referendum in Britain, Hollande signalled that the pros and cons of European Union membership are also likely to influence the outcome of the French presidential elections next year. By stressing his working-class roots as well as concerns over immigration, he is making a pitch to attract the many Conservative and opposition Labour voters who switched to the U.K. Independence Party. She said Wednesday: “this is not about more or less Europe as a principle, but about achieving results better”. “And I think it will be in many ways even more hard from outside, if you want full access to the single market, to secure change”.
Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal.
Merkel said the remaining 27 leaders were keen to address the concerns of ordinary people, particularly over security, migration and finances and focusing on youth.
“Whoever wants to leave this family can not expect to have no more obligations but to keep privileges”, she said.
But, acting Spanish Premier Mariano Rajoy yesterday said Madrid would oppose any separate talks with Scotland on its future in the European Union in the wake of Brexit.
“We need a few weeks to prepare this process”, Tusk said. European Central Bank President Mario Draghi told the closed-door session that growth in the euro zone could decline by as much as 0.5 percentage point for the next three years cumulatively, according to a European official with knowledge of the meeting.
Hours later, European Union leaders made it clear there can be no discussions until Britain triggers Article 50.
They are focusing on how to deal with the rest of the continent now that Britain is leaving.
But bearing out his words, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen called the British vote “an extraordinary victory for democracy – a slap for a European system based more and more on fear, blackmail and lies”.
The challenge cuts to the heart of the British vote to leave the bloc following a virulent campaign where migration from poorer European Union countries was a key concern.
“The four freedoms: we can not have the freedom of capital movement, the freedom of goods, the freedom of services and then say, ‘when it comes to people, stay put!’ Well no, it doesn’t work that way”.
Advertisement
Coming in the opposite direction on Wednesday morning was Nicola Sturgeon, arriving in Brussels to sound out the European commission president, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, on the possibility of Scotland – which voted overwhelmingly to remain in the EU – joining the bloc as a separate member.
