Category: Politics

{Government faces pressure to begin Brexit negotiations immediately after landmark vote to leave the 28-member bloc.}

European Union officials have called for the UK to start the exit process as quickly as possible after Britons voted to leave the 28-member bloc, prompting the resignation of David Cameron, the prime minister, and dealing the biggest blow to European efforts at greater unity since the second world war.

The outcome of Thursday’s EU referendum – a 52-to-48 split in favour of Britain’s exit – caused financial markets to fall sharply and brought the British pound down to a 31-year low, its biggest drop in history.

There are now fears the vote could set off a chain reaction of further breakaway bids by other EU members battling hostility to Brussels.

There are also worries the outcome could lead to the break-up of the UK itself after Scotland raised the prospect of another independence vote.

On Saturday, foreign ministers from the six founding members of the EU – Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, held a crisis meeting in Berlin to discuss the shock exit.

“Negotiations have to go quickly in the common interest,” said Jean-Marc Ayrault, France’s foreign minister, adding that the pressure would be “very strong” on Cameron at an EU summit on Tuesday to speed up the process.

Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German foreign minister, said it was essential to preserve the “project of freedom and stability” that the six founding EU members had forged.

“We have a situation now that neither allows hysterics, nor shock,” he said.

“We shouldn’t fall into hectic activities, pretending that all answers are ready; we also shouldn’t fall into depression and inactivity.

“This is why the exchange that is happening now is necessary and I’m sure that amongst the 27 countries who want to defend this Europe, we have a strong will to strengthen this Europe after the British decision.”

Saturday’s meeting came a day after EU chiefs issued a joint statement saying negotiations over the so-called Brexit should begin immediately.

“We now expect the United Kingdom government to give effect to this decision of the British people as soon as possible, however painful that process may be,” said Donald Tusk, EU president; Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission chief; Martin Schulz, European Parliament head; and Mark Rutte, Dutch prime minister, whose country holds the six-month EU presidency.

“Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the result a “blow” to Europe while French President Francois Hollande admitted it was a “grave test”.

Merkel and Hollande will meet Matteo Renzi, Italy’s prime minister, in Berlin on Monday to discuss future steps.

US President Barack Obama, who publicly threw his weight behind British EU membership during a visit to London in April, insisted the “special relationship” between the two countries was “enduring”.

Following the UK’s vote in favour of exiting the bloc, Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders and French National Front leader Marine Le Pen called for referendums on EU membership in their own countries immediately.

The British vote will lead to at least two years of divorce proceedings with the EU, the first exit by any member state.

Cameron, who led the campaign to remain in Europe to defeat, after promising the referendum in 2013, said it would be up to his successor to formally start the exit process.

“The British people have made the very clear decision to take a different path and as such I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction,” Cameron, in office since 2010, said in an emotional televised address outside his residence on Friday.

“I do not think it would be right for me to be the captain that steers our country to its next destination.”

His Conservative Party rival Boris Johnson, the former London mayor who became the most recognisable face of the Leave camp, is now widely tipped to seek his job.

“We can find our voice in the world again, a voice that is commensurate with the fifth-biggest economy on earth,” Johnson said.

The “Leave” victory also threatens to shatter the unity of the UK, with Scotland and Northern Ireland voting to remain in while England – barring big cities like London – and Wales supported out.

Nicola Sturgeon, Scottish first minister, said a second independence vote was now “highly likely” after a 2014 referendum backed staying in the UK.

“The option of a second referendum must be on the table and it is on the table,” she said, declaring it was “democratically unacceptable” for Scotland to be dragged out of the EU against its will.

The Scottish parliament is due to meet for an emergency session early on Saturday.

In Northern Ireland, the nationalist Sinn Fein party seized on the result to call for a vote on reunification with the Irish Republic.

The possibility of such a vote is included in the 1998 peace accord that largely ended three decades of violence in the province, but leaders north and south of the border were quick to dismiss the idea.

Highlighting the discord, a petition demanding a second EU referendum had gathered more than 550,000 signatures late on Friday.

{{Risks ahead}}

The result caused the pound to fall to a 31-year low of $1.3229 at one point but it recovered some ground after the Bank of England said it stood ready to pump £250bn ($370bn) into the financial system to avert a crisis.

European stock markets dropped around eight percent at opening before recovering later, while British bank shares lost a quarter of their value in morning trade.

Ratings agency Moody’s said Britain’s creditworthiness was now at greater risk, as the country would face substantial challenges to successfully negotiate its exit from the bloc.

Huge questions also face the large numbers of British expatriates who live and work freely elsewhere in the EU, as well the fate of EU citizens who live and work in Britain.

{Split vote effectively kills Obama’s executive order to protect millions of undocumented people from deportations.}

The US Supreme Court has deadlocked President Barack Obama’s plan to spare millions of undocumented immigrants from deportation with a tie vote.

The eight-member court split four to four on Thursday, but did not provide details about how or why justices had voted, effectively killing the plan for the remaining seven-months of his presidency.

Obama called the ruling frustrating to those who want to “bring a rationality” to the immigration system.

“For more than two decades now, our immigration system … has been broken, and the fact that the Supreme Court was not able to issue a decision today doesn’t just set the system back even further, it takes us further from the country that we aspire to be,” Obama said at the White House.

Though Obama predicted an immigration overhaul is inevitable, he conceded it won’t happen while he’s president due to opposition from the current Congress.

Working to lay the groundwork for the next president to pick up the effort, he cast the election in November as a referendum on how the country would treat its immigrants.

“We’re going to have to make a decision about whether we are a people who tolerate the hypocrisy of a system where the workers who pick our fruit or make our beds never have the chance to get right with the law,” Obama said.

“Or whether we’re going to give them a chance, just like our forebears had a chance, to take responsibility and give their kids a better future.”

Obama’s 2014 plan was tailored to let roughly four million people – those who have lived illegally in the US at least since 2010, have no criminal record and have children who are US citizens or lawful permanent residents – get into a programme that shields them from deportation and supplies work permits.

The court, with four conservative justices and four liberals, appeared divided along ideological lines during oral arguments on April 18.

The ruling reflects the need to confirm a ninth justice, Obama said, blaming the Senate for failing to give a hearing to Merrick Garland, his nominee to replace Antonin Scalia who died in February.

The case reached the Supreme Court after a lower court struck down Obama’s 2014 executive order last year.

Obama said the order was necessary because Congress had failed to pass immigration reforms.

‘Not permitted’

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, the top Republican in Congress, said the court’s action showed Obama had overstepped his authority.

“The Constitution is clear: The president is not permitted to write laws. Only Congress is,” he said.

Obama insisted on Thursday that his administration would continue with its other immigration action that protects immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation. That programme was not under
consideration by the court.

Officials would instead continue to prioritise deportations for people who have committed crimes, those who recently crossed the border and threats to national security.

{The Israeli PM to meet Kerry and Mogherini to fight pressure over settlement growth on occupied Palestine.}

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to fly to Rome for three days of intense diplomacy as the the Middle East Quartet is expected to use strong language against his settlements policy in a forthcoming report.

Netanyahu will fly to the capital of Italy on Sunday to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry and the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini.

The Middle East Quartet, a mediation group made up of the US, EU, UN and Russia, is expected to use unusually tough language in criticising Israel’s expansion of settlements on occupied land that the Palestinians seek for an independent state.

It is unclear whether the wording may be softened before the report is issued, probably next week, although its publication has already been delayed several times.

“As it stands, the language is strong and Israel isn’t going to like it,” said one diplomat briefed on the content. “But it’s also not saying that much that hasn’t been said before – that settlements are a serious obstacle to peace.”

On Thursday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas appealed to the EU for help to end Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and support for a lasting peace agreement.

“You are our friends, help us,” Abbas told EU politicians in Brussels. “Israel has turned our country into an open-air prison.

“Why is international law not being applied in the case of Israel?” he said to applause.

Defence agreement

Netanyahu is expected to talk to Kerry about a series of other issues, including how to conclude drawn-out negotiations with Washington on a new 10-year defence agreement.

There is also the looming issue of a peace conference organised by the French that is supposed to convene in the autumn, although it may no longer take place in Paris.

Israeli officials oppose the initiative, seeing it as sidestepping the need for Israel and the Palestinians to sit down and negotiate directly. They argue that it provides the Palestinians with a chance to internationalise the conflict rather than dealing with it on the ground.

Israelis are also concerned that the conference may end up fixing a timeframe for an agreement on ending Israel’s 49-year-old occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem and reaching a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

If that does not emerge from the French plan, it remains possible that a resolution along similar lines could be presented to the United Nations Security Council before the end of the year.

Netanyahu is expected to discuss the issue with UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday in Jerusalem.

{Millions of Britons begin voting in historic EU referendum that will shape British-EU ties for generations.}

Millions of Britons are heading to the polls to vote on whether the UK will remain a part of the European Union.

A record 46.5 million voters have signed up to weigh in on Thursday’s referendum, which asks: “Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?”

The divisive referendum has sparked the greatest emergency in the EU’s 60-year history.

The vote pits the Remain campaign, backed by British Prime Minister David Cameron and Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, against the Leave camp, led by the former London mayor, MP Boris Johnson.

Polling stations opened at 7am (06:00 GMT) and will close 10pm (21:00 GMT) local time.

PM Cameron and his wife Samantha Cameron cast their ballots early on Thursday at London’s Westminster Central Hall.

Rainstorms were expected to dampen turnout in London and other parts of southern England.

There are no official exit polls because polling experts say the lack of recent comparable votes in Britain could make the results less reliable.

Results from polling will, however, be released shortly after the ballots close.

Too close to call

On the eve of the historic vote, two polls – both conducted over the internet – put the Leave camp ahead by 1 or 2 percent. But a telephone poll gave Remain a sizeable lead of 48 percent, ahead of Leave with 42 percent.

Standing outside a fish-packing plant a day before the referendum, Leave camp leader Boris Johnson argued it was time to take back control of the UK’s industries.

“You take back control and I think it will be a big, big moment for democracy in this country and around Europe,” said Johnson.

Brexit Q&A: All you need to know

Desperate to inject some pro-Europe passion late in the day on Wednesday, the prime minister and his allies made appeals to older voters, urging them to think of their children rather than their own nostalgic views of their country.

“Think of one word that brings it all into one, which is ‘together’, because frankly if we want a bigger economy and more jobs we’re better if we do it together,” said Cameron.

“If we want to fight climate change, we’re better if we do it together. If we want to win against the terrorists and keep our country safe, we’re better if we do it together.”

The Remain camp has said a British exit would be hugely destabilising in terms of security and the economy.

Supporters of the Leave campaign argue that a Brexit would be for the best; much of its campaign focused on tighter border controls and freedom from EU regulations on immigration and the economy.

{{‘Divisive, vile campaign’
}}

There is also concern about the divisive impact of the campaign, in particular the pro-Brexit camp’s focus on immigration.

The Mirror newspaper, which supports a “Remain” vote, has described it as “the most divisive, vile and unpleasant political campaign in living memory”.

One of the most contentious posters of the campaign was one published by the anti-immigration UK Independence Party (UKIP), showing a long queue of refugees under the headline “Breaking Point”.

The murder of Jo Cox, a passionate pro-European who had campaigned for Syrian refugees, brought only a temporary respite in the campaign.

Following her killing a week ago, the pound soared as several polls showed gains for the Remain camp, and it has kept its strength since.

“If we destroy the European Union, which for all its faults has nevertheless delivered a tremendous amount of cohesion within our continent, I think the consequences of that are fairly unpredictable. So for that reason, I don’t think that’s something we should wish for,” Conservative MP and Remain campaigner Dominic Grieve told Al Jazeera.

‘Out is out’

EU leaders have warned there will be no turning back from a vote to quit the 28-member bloc.

“Out is out,” European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker said in Brussels, dismissing any chances of a post-vote renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership terms.

French President Francois Hollande has said an exit by the UK would be “irreversible”.

The referendum has raised concerns across Europe that a British withdrawal could trigger a domino effect of exit votes and threaten the integrity of the bloc, already under severe strain from Eurozone and migration crises.

Even if it stays, the status quo will not be an option.

“Whatever the result is going to be, we must take a long hard look at the future of the union. We would be foolish if we ignored such a warning signal as the UK referendum,” EU President Donald Tusk warned this week.

Tusk has previously said that a British leave vote could lead to the “destruction of not only the EU but also of Western political civilisation”.

The EU was created after the Second World War as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. The movement for unity was led by France and Germany.