EU Commissioner urges quick UK action to implement Brexit

A two-year process to quit the EU will begin when Britain’s prime minister invokes Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon Treaty. British Prime Minister David Cameron could do that when he meets the EU’s other 27 national leaders in Brussels on Tuesday, EU officials have said. But in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the EU, Cameron said on Friday he would resign in October and that he would leave it to his successor to start the process — a decision criticised by Guenther Oettinger, the EU commissioner for digital economy and society. 

“Every day of uncertainty prevents investors from putting their funds into Britain, and also other European markets,” Oettinger told the Deutschlandfunk German radio station. “Cameron and his party will cause damage if they wait until October.” 

Oettinger said he doubted that Britain’s decision to leave the EU would be reversed. He also urged the remaining EU countries to focus on strengthening the EU and working on real problems, such as the migration crisis, instead of debating contractual changes. Germany should “lead as part of a European team”, Oettinger said.

Britain’s vote to leave the European Union gives the government a clear mandate to impose controls on immigration, pro-Brexit minister Chris Grayling said on Monday, after some leaders of the campaign to leave the bloc said levels might not change after all. 

Immigration had been a key factor in the build up to the June 23 referendum vote, with the campaign to leave the bloc saying a British exit, or Brexit, would result in lower levels of net migration into Britain. 

However, some of the campaign leaders have since said that migration may not fall because it is not clear what new relationship Britain will agree with the bloc.