London: Prime Minister David Cameron is heading to Brussels to
meet with European Union (EU) leaders for the first time since Britain voted to
leave the bloc.
He is expected on Tuesday to discuss the vote at an EU summit,
while the other 27 leaders will gather for the first time without him on
Wednesday morning to plan their next moves. Cameron will first sit down with EU
President Donald Tusk, before the European Council meets later in the
day. Later, the British Prime Minister will “explain the situation” to his
fellow leaders over a dinner, according to an invitation letter from Tusk.
The EU leaders are likely to stress a willingness to negotiate,
but only after London binds itself to a tight two-year exit timetable. The
leaders of France, Germany and Italy met in Berlin on Monday and said Europe needed
to respond to its people’s concerns by setting clear goals to improve security,
the economy and prospects for young people.
Cameron’s trip comes amid deep political uncertainty in Britain,
sparked by Thursday’s EU referendum in which he failed to convince Britons to
vote to remain in the EU.
Shortly after the results were announced on Friday, he promised to
resign by October — opening the way for a leadership contest within the ruling
Conservative Party.
The decision for a Brexit — or British exit — also caused global
markets to sink, sterling to drop to its lowest level in more than three
decades, and it threw the opposition Labour Party into crisis.
Many expect a general election in the near future, following
Cameron’s resignation and as several Labour MPs have resigned, citing
ineffective leadership by Jeremy Corbyn.
The political, economic and regulatory uncertainty is being felt
across the globe at a time when economies are still slowly recovering from the
2008 economic crisis, interest rates are close to zero, and central banks have
fewer tools than normal to revive demand if countries enter recession.
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