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EU Ministers Call for Quick Brexit | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, Belgium’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Didier Reynders and Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders (L-R) attend a press conference after a foreign minister meeting of the EU founding members in Berlin, Germany, June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Axel Schmidt


London- Six EU founding members met in Berlin Saturday to call UK for quick exit of European Union. Ministers at the meeting also waved possible invoke of Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty, which begins two-year exit proceedings.

For that matter, EU had assigned Belgium Diplomat Didier Seeuws as head of the union’s taskforce to negotiate Britain’s exit from the union.

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

Steinmeier was surrounded by Foreign Ministers: Jean-Marc Ayrault, Bert Koenders, Paolo Gentiloni, Didier Reynders, and Jean Asselborn.

Both European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Parliament Chief Martin Schulz criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron who is planning to stay in office until October.

Juncker told German media that Britain’s departure won’t be “an amicable divorce”. He added that he would like the terms of departure be negotiated immediately.

Martin Schulz said it is “scandalous” that David Cameron didn’t resign directly after the results.

Schulz added that Cameron had “taken a whole continent hostage for the internal party considerations”.

London must commit to Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty and thus begin two-year exit proceedings to determine the type of relation between Britons and Europe.

French Foreign Minister Ayrault declared that it should only take few days for UK to choose a new prime minister and invoke Article 50. He added: “There is a certain urgency so that we don’t have a period of uncertainty, with financial and political consequences.”

Ayrault commented that it would “disrespectful” to delay the process.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, said it “shouldn’t take forever for Britain to deliver formal notification that it wants to leave the EU.”

Merkel added that the matter was ultimately in London’s hands and that negotiations must be conducted properly.

The six ministers stressed that Europe must meet the needs and aspirations of its citizens especially with the economic crisis, unemployment and security issues.