Richard Hartley-Parkinson
Metro (UK)Sun, 26 Jun 2016 18:05 UTC
© SWNS
The European Parliament's chief called Sunday for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit
this week.
Martin Schulz told German newspaper
Bild am Sonntag that
a period of limbo over Brexit would 'lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs'.'Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British conservatives hurts everyone,' he said.
'That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time.'
The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter
Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.
This was crucial, the groups wrote, 'to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union'.
They added that
'no new relationship of whatever kind between the United Kingdom and the EU can be agreed before (Britain's) exit accord has been completed'.Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave negotiations on the so-called 'Brexit' to his successor.
To begin the withdrawal process,
Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.
The first step is to inform the European Council of member states which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.
The EU will hold a summit Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.
Foreign ministers from the EU's six founding states meeting in Berlin on Saturday urged Britain to begin the exit process 'as soon as possible'.
Comment: In this vein, Germany has
ruled out informal talks on the subject until Britain invokes Article 50. Brexiters like Boris Johnson wanted to draw out the process with such talks before starting the 2-year countdown. Cameron has apparently said the UK will
not trigger "formal exit talks" yet, leaving that task to his successor (slated for October). And pro-Brexit campaigner Justice Secretary Michael Gove wants to wait a full two years before initiating the process! So it looks as if there is a stalemate for now.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert told the Guardian only Britain could start the exit process, and "if the government needs a reasonable amount of time to do that, we respect that." But he added: "One thing is clear - before Great Britain has sent this notification, there will be no informal preliminary talks about the exit modalities."
Brussels has also ruled out informal talks on a possible trade deal. "No notification, no negotiation," one official told the Guardian on Sunday. London has so far shown no sign of launching formal exit proceedings through Article 50 - an untested procedure that governs how a member state leaves the bloc.
...
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the UK should trigger Article 50 "immediately" and as a matter of urgency. According to a Guardian source, Juncker told Cameron on Friday: "The decision of the British people was crystal clear, and the only logical step would be to implement their will as soon as possible." (RT)
Yeah yeah yeah. We know the referendum was designed to fail, well it didn't and there's no turning back, so wake up to the new reality, put your boots on, bite the bullet, pull your fingers out invoke article 50.