Founding EU members to hold crisis talks after Brexit vote
Founding members of the European Union are set to hold a crisis summit on the future of the troubled union following Britain’s vote to leave the 28-nation bloc.
On Saturday, foreign ministers from the six countries, namely Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg, will gather in Berlin in the first of a series of crisis meetings to be held in the coming weeks over Brexit to ensure the transition goes as smooth as possible.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier will host his French counterparts for the six-way conference on “current European political issues,” said Germany’s Foreign Ministry in a statement.
In a referendum held on June 23, Britons voted to withdraw from the EU by a narrow margin, with a turnout of 72 percent. Leave won the referendum with 51.9 percent, while Remain finished on 48.1 percent.
After the release of the final results, UK Prime Minister David Cameron stepped down and said he would leave office in fall.
Senior European leaders expressed dismay over Britain’s ‘Yes’ vote to EU exit amid warnings of repercussions and fears of further calls for similar referendums.
On Friday, Steinmeier described the outcome of the British referendum as “a sad day for Europe and the United Kingdom,” Ayrault said Paris and Berlin will present their partners with “concrete solutions” to make the EU “more effective.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel referred to the UK vote as a “blow” to Europe, saying her country would host the leaders of France and Italy along with EU President Donald Tusk in Berlin on Monday in an attempt to chart a reform plan.
“We take note of the British people's decision with regret. There is no doubt that this is a blow to Europe and to the European unification process,” Merkel said in a Berlin press briefing.
Meanwhile, EU chiefs have called on Britain to leave as “soon as possible, however painful that process may be.”
European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said he was “very sad” that Britain had voted to leave the bloc, but reiterated that there would be “no renegotiation” of Britain’s membership.
As the “Brexit” vote sent global financial markets into freefall, Moody’s slashed the UK’s credit rating outlook to “negative,” insisting that the vote to quit the EU could hurt its economic prospects.
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