EU leaders to meet
WEB DESK /
European Union, EU officials have called for the UK to start the exit process “as soon as possible” after voters decided to leave the bloc. But the US president said their decision speaks to the “challenges raised by globalization.”
European Union leaders will be meeting to discuss the UK’s exit from the bloc
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the EU chief executive met President of the European Council Donald Tusk and European Parliament President Martin Schulz in Brussels on Friday.
A joint statement issued by the EU leaders expressed “regret” over the UK’s decision, but said the British people’s decision would be respected and urged for negotiations to be launched “swiftly”.
Talking from Brussels after the emergency meeting with EU leaders, the EU president told Britain the other 27 member states wanted to negotiate its exit plan “as soon as possible”.
The first meeting of EU leaders with no British representation will be held on Wednesday.
The UK voted by 52% to 48% to leave the EU. Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will step down by October.
US President Barack Obama has said that the special relationship between the US and the UK would endure despite Britain’s decision to leave the European Union. The US president said that the two countries would stay close to ensure “economic growth and financial stability”.
He said the UK and EU were still “indispensable partners” for the US. Obama said that he was confident that the UK was committed to an orderly transition from the EU.
Earlier London and Scotland voted strongly to stay in the EU but the remain vote has been undermined by poor results in the north of England.
Voters in Wales and the English shires have backed Brexit in large numbers.
The vote – which saw an extremely high turnout of around 72 per cent with over 30 million people voting- reverses the public verdict back in 1975, when the UK voted to remain a member of then European Economic Community, which later became the EU. The UK is the first country to leave the bloc.
US President Barack Obama on Friday vowed to respect the will of UK voters after a slight majority voted in favor of leaving the EU in a historic in-or-out referendum, shocking world leaders and markets across the globe.
“The people of the United Kingdom have spoken, and we respect their decision,” Obama said in a statement.
The US president said the UK and EU “will remain indispensable partners” of the US even as the parties negotiate their ongoing relationship “to ensure continued stability, security and prosperity for Europe, Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the world.”
"The special relationship between our two nations will endure." —@POTUS on the UK referendum to leave the EU. https://t.co/IdmA77dg2T
— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) June 24, 2016