Replies to post #249994 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[PegnVA]

Yes, I follow European news on a cable station from Paris, France and heard this callus remark...As for Trump, he looked like a fool in a bb cap talking to international journalist - what an embarrassment he is!

[StephanieVanbryce]

EU parliament leader: we want Britain out as soon as possible

President Martin Schulz says speeding up of UK exit being
considered after ‘continent taken hostage because of Tory party fight’

Friday 24 June 2016 19.47 BST

A senior EU leader has confirmed the bloc wants Britain out as soon as possible, warning that David Cameron’s
decision to delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor is in place may not be fast enough.

Cameron announced on Friday morning that he would step down as prime minister by the autumn, after the British public caused a political earthquake by voting 52%-48% to leave the European Union.

Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty – the untested procedure for leaving the union.

As the EU’s institutions scrambled to respond to the bodyblow of Britain’s exit, Schulz said uncertainty was “the opposite of what we need”, adding that it was difficult to accept that “a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party”.

“I doubt it is only in the hands of the government of the United Kingdom,” he said. “We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word.”

Schulz’s comments were partially echoed by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said he there was no reason to wait until October to begin negotiating Britain’s departure from the European Union.

“Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure,” Juncker said in an interview with Germany’s ARD television station. “I would like to get started immediately.”

As the pound fell to its lowest level since 1985 amid fears that the Brexit vote could spark a fresh global financial crisis, the governor of the Bank of England stepped in on Friday to calm financial markets.

Mark Carney said Threadneedle Street was ready to do whatever was needed to mitigate the impact of Britain’s historic vote to leave the EU. City traders quickly responded by placing bets on an interest rate cut by the end of the year.

With anti-European sentiment on the rise across the continent, national governments outside Europe’s capital sought urgently to prevent any contagion from the UK vote, urging swift reforms to the 60-year-old bloc. Calls for similar referendums were made in France, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Cameron, who had campaigned hard but ultimately unsuccessfully to keep Britain in the EU, emerged outside No 10 Downing Street just after 8am on Friday to announce his departure, accompanied by his wife, Samantha.

“I was absolutely clear about my belief that Britain is stronger, safer and better off inside the EU,” he said. “I made clear the referendum was about this, and this alone, not the future of any single politician, including myself.

“But the British people made a different decision to take a different path. As such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction.”

Cameron said in his resignation speech that it would be up to his successor – expected to be appointed before the Conservative party conference in October – to trigger article 50. Once that is done, the clock starts running on two years of negotiations.

Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading leave campaigner, said there should be “no haste” in the preparations for the exit of Britain, the first sovereign country to vote to leave the union.

You know Boris? You do not get to call the shots yet .. shut up and sit down!

This article goes on and I believe it is open-ended ... haven't looked .. but everywhere I look . .it's FASCINATING!
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/24/top-eu-leader-we-want-britain-out-as-soon-as-possible?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

[PegnVA]

It will be interesting to see if results from UK's referendum to leave the EU legally constitutes a notice to the EU that the UK intends to leave - if so, Article 50 goes into effect and the clock began ticking today - the UK has two years to wind down agreements within the EU...But I'm not certain the referendum alone legally constitutes notice to leave, and probably will require a formal notice from the UK...From the coverage I'm watching, EU leaders will have no patience with the UK - you want to leave? here's the door. The EU wants the UK out ASAP to prevent copy-cats, such as what we now hear from France's right-winger Maria LePen.
A meeting of EU ministers is scheduled for next Wednesday and David Cameron is not invited - shades of things to come.