Cameron runs EU gauntlet after Brexit vote
AFP / Philippe Huguen
Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron arrives for an EU summit meeting on June 28, 2016 at EU headquarters in Brussels
Impatient European leaders pressed a humiliated Prime
Minister David Cameron on Tuesday to speed up Britain's divorce from the
EU, warning that the UK cannot expect special treatment outside the
bloc.Five days after Britons shocked the world by voting to leave the 28-nation EU, British domestic political chaos spiralled with the leader of the opposition Labour party losing a no-confidence vote but refusing to resign.
US President Barack Obama warned however against "hysteria" as stock markets and the pound staged a tentative recovery after days of losses that saw sterling slump to a 31-year low.
AFP / Thierry Charlier
British Prime Minister
David Cameron (left) meets European Union Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on June 28, 2016
Cameron, at probably his last EU summit in Brussels
before stepping down over the referendum result, is refusing to bow to
pressure quickly to initiate proceedings to exit the EU.Instead he is leaving it to up to his successor -- to be named on September 9 -- to trigger Article 50, the EU treaty clause that starts a two-year countdown until Britain's departure.
As he arrived for what is likely to be an awkward dinner with his counterparts, Cameron said the split should be "as constructive as possible" and that he wanted the "closest possible relationship" with Europe afterwards.
Graphics/AFP /
Divisions and tension after Brexit
But European powers are loath to give Britain an easy
ride, insisting that negotiations on the future relationship cannot
begin until it starts the divorce proceedings.German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Cameron could not "cherry-pick" in the exit negotiations -- and there would be a price for Britain to pay.
"It is important that we will negotiate only if the UK declares Article 50. There will be no informal or formal negotiations before," she said as she arrived in Brussels.
AFP / John MacDougall
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has warned Britain cannot "cherry-pick" in EU exit negotiations
In a stern warning, European Commission chief
Jean-Claude Juncker said that he had banned Commission officials from
having any "secret" talks with Britain before Article 50 was triggered.And European Parliament President Martin Schulz said Cameron was "taking the destiny of our entire continent hostage purely for internal political reasons".
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte however showed some sympathy for Britain's predicament
- EU after Brexit -
AFP / Scott Heppell
Britain as a whole voted by 52 percent to 48 percent to leave the EU
Britain's decision has also put the remaining 27
members of the EU under pressure to come up with an adequate response to
prevent other countries following suit.Germany, France and Italy have urged steps among the rest of the EU jointly to boost cooperation on security as well as programmes to boost economic growth and youth employment.
The 27 will meet without Cameron on Wednesday and EU President Donald Tusk proposed holding another summit in September.
AFP / Ben Stansall
British Labour Party Leader Jeremy Corbyn leaves his home in London on June 28, 2016
On Tuesday, Corbyn lost a no-confidence vote among
Labour MPs by 172 to 40, but remained defiant despite around 20 members
of his shadow cabinet resigning."I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60 percent of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning," Corbyn said in a statement.
Jockeying has also begun within the Conservatives to replace Cameron, with key Brexit proponent Boris Johnson and interior minister Theresa May considered front-runners.
AFP / Leon Neal
Britain says it will not
be rushed into a quick exit from the European Union, as markets plunged
in the wake of a seismic referendum
Stock markets and the pound recovered on Tuesday from
heavy losses, but investors remain spooked by the prospect of one of the
EU's biggest economies leaving the bloc."None of the chaos induced by last Friday is anywhere near going away," Spreadex analyst Connor Campbell told AFP.
British entrepreneur Richard Branson on Tuesday said his Virgin Group had pulled out of a deal involving 3,000 jobs after Britain voted to leave the EU.
AFP / John Thys
United Kingdom
Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage (left) meets EU Commission
President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on June 28, 2016
But European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi told the
EU summit that the growth in the eurozone economy would only take a mild
hit of around 0.3 to 0.5 percent over three years.- Scotland goes to Brussels -
Late Monday, Standard & Poor's and Fitch both cut their credit ratings for Britain as a result of the referendum.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said she would travel to Brussels for talks on Wednesday, saying she was "utterly determined to preserve Scotland's relationship and place within the EU".
One happy man though was Nigel Farage, head of the UK Independence Party, telling a jeering European Parliament -- after a hug with old sparring partner Juncker -- that he has had the last laugh.
"When I came here 17 years ago and I said I wanted to lead a campaign to get Britain to leave the EU, you all laughed at me," he said. "But you are not laughing now."
"The United Kingdom will not be the last member state to leave the European Union!"
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