EU founding states call for quick Brexit start

Jonathan Hill, who as the equivalent of the EU’s finance minister was Britain’s highest-ranking diplomat in the union, resigned his Brussels post Saturday, stating, “What’s done can not be undone”.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will step down by October to allow his successor to conduct talks. An association treaty spells out trading rules and other regulations between the European Union and a non-EU country.

“Great Britain will remain a close partner”, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday in Potsdam, outside Berlin.

Speaking after an emergency meeting of her cabinet, Sturgeon said it had agreed to seek “immediate discussions with the EU institutions and other EU member states to explore all possible options to protect Scotland’s place in the EU”.

The results of the plebiscite are no legally binding and can be reviewed by parliament, which may agree or disagree with the popular opinion.

“If, tomorrow, Britain is not part of the single market, the City can not keep this European passport, and clearing houses can not be located in London either”, he told France Inter radio.

Immediately after Friday’s vote, the German Foreign Ministry quoted Steinmeier on its official Twitter as saying: “The news from Britain is really sobering”.

They followed European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, who said on Friday it made no sense to wait until October to negotiate the terms of a “Brexit”.

As if to reinforce those fears Slovakia’s far-right People’s Party launched a petition for a referendum on the country’s future in the EU.

Germany has thus far participated in the European Union mission with a logistics ship, and about 950 German soldiers have helped rescue about 15,000 people at sea since May 2015, according to the German military.

Mr Corbyn has rejected calls for his resignation amid growing fury at his failure to galvanise the party’s traditional supporters to turn out for Remain as many Labour MPs express concern at the possibility of him leading the party into a snap autumn general election.

Despite suggestions that other European Union countries could try to “punish” the United Kingdom for daring to leave, Merkel insisted it would benefit no one and there was no need “to be nasty”.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, said: “We don’t think there is a need to swiftly invoke Article 50”. That may seem symbolic at this point, but it’s something British leaders could fall back on in the future if continental member states wanted to press forward.

Meanwhile, EU leaders said Britain will remain a member of the bloc until its exit negotiations are concluded, which probably means at least two years longer.

Diplomatic sources say they want use this as a basis to shore up the EU, while building a more flexible union that recognizes some members have less appetite to deepen integration than others. “That would not be respectful after deciding to organize this referendum”, Ayrault told a news conference after the ministers’ meeting.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said “there is a certain urgency … so that we don’t have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences”.

Steinmeier was meeting with his counterparts from France, Netherlands, Italy, Belgium and Luxembourg at the government’s Villa Borsig mansion on the outskirts of Berlin. They also spoke of the need for a speedy renegotiation.

In today’s troubled world with conflict on the European periphery, the peace that European unity has brought “is anything but self-evident” she said.