Now EU turns nasty
European leaders order Britain to leave ‘as soon as possible’ EC chief Juncker warns split ‘won’t be an amicable divorce’ Germany says any incentives to UK could see other states quit
BRITAIN’S departure from the EU turned nasty yesterday as furious European leaders ordered the UK to leave ‘as soon as possible’.
One French minister even took the extraordinary step of demanding that David Cameron be replaced within days in a bid to railroad the UK into potentially punitive exit negotiations.
The Prime Minister will also be shut out of this week’s key summit on the impact of the Brexit vote, as the stark reality of Britain’s diminished status became clear.
As messages from the Continent hardened, Britain’s EU Commissioner, Lord Hill of Oareford, was forced to step down, while the future also looked bleak for the estimated 1,500 Britons working in Brussels institutions.
Mr Cameron wants negotiations on the UK’s exit to begin once he leaves Downing Street by the start of October.
But French foreign minister Jean- Marc Ayrault yesterday appeared to have no hesitation in trying to hurry along a Conservative leadership battle, saying: ‘A new Prime Minister must be designated, that will take a few days. We have to give a new sense to Europe, otherwise populism will fill the gap.’
At a gathering of leaders of the EU’s founding states in Germany yesterday, German Foreign Minister FrankWalter Steinmeier also warned Britain to act quickly and trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – the formal legal process by which the UK will extract itself from the bloc.
‘We join together in saying this process must begin as soon as possible so we don’t end up in an extended limbo period but rather can focus on the future of Europe and the work
toward it,’ he added. All six ministers at the meeting added in a joint statement: ‘We now expect the UK Government to provide clarity and give effect to this decision as soon as possible.’
EU Commission President JeanClaude Juncker said on Friday: ‘It is not an amicable divorce, but it was not an intimate love affair anyway.
‘I do not understand why the British Government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels. I’d like it immediately.’
French President Francois Hollande added: ‘It will be painful for Britain but... like in all divorces, it will be painful for those who stay behind too.’ Only German Chancellor Angela Merkel claimed that there was no rush, saying: ‘Quite honestly, it should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight for a short time frame.’
She added the EU has ‘no need to be particularly nasty’ in the negotiations, which ‘must take place in a businesslike, good climate’.
EU leaders are desperate to avoid a domino effect of other countries following Britain’s lead, and think they can do this by preventing the UK winning generous access to the single market when it leaves.
A secret Brexit plan drawn up by Germany says the EU ‘should refrain from setting wrong incen- tives for other member states when renegotiating relations’.
France, Austria, Finland, the Netherlands and Hungary may also want to leave, according to the report, which claims: ‘The extent of the knock-on effect will depend on the handling of the United Kingdom.’
Slovakia’s far-Right People’s Party has already launched a petition for a referendum on the country’s EU membership.
However there will likely be a difficult atmosphere at the first postreferendum summit this week.
European Council President Donald Tusk will convene a meeting of the 28-state bloc on Tuesday, but Mr Cameron will be excluded from the second day of talks when the impact of Brexit will be discussed.
Despite last week’s referendum vote, next year Britain will still have to take control of the European Union at the same time as the new Government is trying to negotiate a way out of it.
The UK will hold the ‘rotating presidency’ of the EU for six months between July and December 2017 under a rota agreed long before the referendum was planned.
It means Ministers in Westminster who back Brexit will have to devote time and resources to chairing meetings of the European Council and ‘driving forward’ work on new legislation – the very Brussels red tape they want to escape from. The last time Britain held the presidency was in 2005.
Sources say Britain could only avoid taking on the role if there is a unanimous agreement by all 28 member states, including the UK.
Lord Hill, who was appointed Britain’s EU Commissioner by Mr Cameron two years ago, announced yesterday he would step down in the wake of last week’s vote.
He said while he was ‘very disappointed’ by the result, ‘what is done cannot be undone’, and he planned to leave in an ‘orderly handover’.
Another politician will have to replace him for the final years of the UK’s membership of the EU.