There’s no rush, say British leaders
A man carrying a European Union (EU) flag in London on Friday. members following the United Kingdom on its path of leaving the bloc.
the anti-Islam far-right Freedom Party (PVV) in the Netherlands, after Britain opted out of the EU. Wilders has promised to make a referendum on a “Nexit” a central plank of his party’s election campaign.
Oexit: Austria’s version comes from Oesterreich, the country’s name in Austrian. The idea is gaining ground in a country where farright leader Norbert Hofer came within a hair’s width of being elected to the largely ceremonial but coveted post of president last month.
Swexit: The far-right Sweden Democrats have floated the idea of a “Swexit”, with opinion polls suggesting support for leaving the EU at 31 per cent.
Fixit: Although the English version doesn’t quite hold the right connotations, a petition calling for a Finnish exit has garnered thousands of signatures.
Dexit: The phrase has emerged in the Danish press, where the populist Danish People’s Party (DPP) has been calling for a renegotiation of its LONDON: Top Brexit campaigner Boris Johnson said there was no need to rush pulling Britain out of the European Union, as he sought to reassure Britons abroad and EU citizens in Britain with a message of continuity yesterday.
Johnson also urged Brexit backers to “build bridges” with those who voted for Britain to stay in the EU after Thursday’s bitterly divisive referendum and played down the prospects of Scottish independence.
“The only change — and it will not come in any great rush — is that the United Kingdom will extricate itself from the EU’s extraordinary and opaque system of legislation,” Johnson wrote in his column for the Daily Telegraph.
“EU citizens living in this country will have their rights fully protected, and the same goes for British citizens living in the EU,” wrote Johnson, the former London mayor and a favourite to succeed outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron.
“British people will still be able to go and work in the EU; to live; to travel; to study; to buy homes and settle down,” he said. EU accords.
Gerxit: It has appeared in Frenchand English-language media, but the idea of a “Gerxit” has little traction back at home in Germany. However, right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party chair Frauke Petry did describe “Brexit” as a warning to the EU. “If the EU does not abandon its quasi-socialist experiment of ever-greater integration then the European people will follow the Brits and take back their sovereignty,” he said. AFP
Britons voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent in favour of leaving the EU, which sent shock waves through the financial markets, toppled Cameron and put world leaders in crisis mode.
Johnson said Britain would retain close ties with Europe, and reacted to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s statement that a new independence referendum in two years was “highly likely” because most Scots had voted to stay in the EU.
“We had one Scotland referendum in 2014, and I do not detect any real appetite to have another one soon.
“It goes without saying that we are much better together in forging a new and better relationship with EU — based on free trade and partnership, rather than a federal system.”
Finance minister George Osborne said Britain should trigger Article 50 to leave the EU only when it had a “clear view” of its future in the bloc.
“In the meantime, and during the negotiations that will follow, there will be no change to people’s rights to travel and work, and to the way our goods and services are traded, or to the way our economy and financial system is regulated.” AFP