Founding EU members tell Britain: let’s get this divorce done

They do not see a legal way to force Britain to start the process but have piled political pressure on Cameron to honour his pledge to launch Article 50 negotiations and respect the popular vote.

European Union leaders intend to pressure outgoing British Prime Minister David Cameron about a departure timetable at a Tuesday summit meeting.

“Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame”, Merkel told a news conference at a meeting of her party outside Berlin.

Koenders called for “good faith” talks with London to begin right away: “We have to move on… we need to turn the page”.

Pro-Brexit voters were persuaded by the argument that leaving the European Union meant taking back control of immigration – by abandoning the bloc’s principle of free movement among member states – and reclaiming billions that Britain pays to Brussels each year.

“I am confident that these countries can also send a message that we won’t let anyone take Europe from us”, he said.

The EU founding members meeting Saturday are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

“We join together in saying that this process must begin as soon as possible so we don’t end up in an extended limbo period”, said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier after a meeting in Berlin.

Labor foreign affairs spokesman Tanya Plibersek said the British vote pointed to “middle-class and working class voters feeling left behind”.

Sturgeon said voters in Scotland gave “emphatic” backing to remaining in the bloc. The deeply divided Conservatives are facing a leadership battle to replace Cameron, and some members of the opposition Labour Party hope to oust their leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who they accuse of failing to promote the “remain” side strongly enough. “We can control our own borders in a way that is not discriminatory but fair and balanced, and take the wind out of the sails of the extremists and those who would play politics with immigration”.

Founding nations want to increase political and economic cooperation but some newer nations are wary of giving up more sovereignty.

“We are aware that discontent with the functioning of the European Union as it is today is manifest in parts of our societies”. She wants to revise a 2003 deal between France and the United Kingdom on border-control rules, including checking migrants looking to get to Britain.

In an unprecedented move, voters in the United Kingdom voted early Friday to leave the European Union, sending shockwaves across world markets. However, there is already a movement underway to hold a second referendum.

As of this writing, more than 3 million Britons have signed the petition.

At one point, the website crashed after being unable to deal with the surge of traffic.

Whether they live at home or overseas, here are some of the consequences facing British nationals once Britain leaves the European Union following the shock referendum result.

While there are no figures for how numerous 30,000 to 35,000 British citizens here voted in Thursday’s referendum, it has been a subject of great interest to the British community, said Mr Wightman at a post-EU referendum media briefing at Eden Hall, the official residence of the British High Commissioner in Singapore. Brexit, meaning “British Exit” from the European Union, was a jolting reminder that when voters are frustrated with their governments, populism becomes a powerful political force.

Many Labour lawmakers were strongly pro-“remain” and accuse the socialist Corbyn, a longtime critic of the European Union, of failing to rally Labour supporters behind staying in the bloc. Several are trying to rally support behind a bid to unseat Corbyn.