How quickly should Britain divorce from the European Union?
The foreign ministers of the EU's founding states insisted that Britain depart quickly, but they cannot legally force it to act.
A "Remain" supporter with a European flag across from the Houses of Parliament in London. The founding states of EU have insisted Britain leave sooner rather than later.
Matt Dunham/AP
Should Britain鈥檚 divorce from the European Union be quick and clean or slow and methodical?
This is the question leaders on the island and continental Europe have started to squabble over following the passage of Britain鈥檚 referendum vote Thursday to leave the 28-nation bloc.
The rift among the member nations of the EU shows their different attitudes 鈥� and motivations 鈥� for how to best move forward with the unprecedented separation. With British Prime Minister David Cameron announcing he will retire by October, and the pound sterling in a freefall, the country鈥檚 leaders are treading carefully. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who will be a lead negotiator of the divorce, is also urging caution. But the EU鈥檚 six founding states, already feeling the economic and political aftershocks of 鈥淏rexit,鈥� are insisting Britain just get it over with.
鈥�,鈥� Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European commission, told German television. 鈥淚t is not an amicable divorce, but it was also not an intimate love affair.鈥�
鈥淚 do not understand why the British government needs until October to decide whether to send the divorce letter to Brussels,鈥� said Mr. Juncker. 聽
Because Britain will be the first member nation in the European Union鈥檚 60-year history to leave it, no one is sure how fast to act. Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the bloc鈥檚 governing treaty, lays out from the union, which starts once Britain invokes the article. The article gives particular focus to how the withdrawal agreement can be negotiated, as well how the withdrawing state鈥檚 relationship with the EU can be defined.
But, the rest of the EU has few legal resources to force Britain to start to leave sooner.
鈥淭here is to compel a state to withdraw from the European Union,鈥� Kenneth Armstrong, a professor of European law at Cambridge University, told The Guardian. 鈥淎rticle 50 is there to allow withdrawal, but no other party has the right to invoke article 50, no other state or institution.鈥�
A member state can be suspended for breaching the EU鈥檚 fundamental rights, according to Article 7 of the Lisbon Treaty. It is considered a 鈥渘uclear option,鈥� however, and Britain has done nothing to warrant it, said Mr. Armstrong.
鈥淲hile delay is highly undesirable politically, legally there is nothing that can compel a state to withdraw,鈥� said Armstrong.
It鈥檚 clear why the EU鈥檚 founding states 鈥� Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands 鈥撀爓ould like the uncertainty about Britain鈥檚 exit resolved sooner, according The New York Times.
鈥淭he European Union has , including the migrant crisis, Greece鈥檚 turbulent economy and sanctions on Russia over Ukraine,鈥� writes the Times鈥檚 Steven Erlanger and Dan Bilefsky. 鈥淓uropean leaders, looking at Spanish elections on Sunday and German and French elections next year, want the uncertainty around the British question resolved as soon as possible so they can try to show their own voters that Brussels is capable and on track.鈥�
The foreign ministers of the union's founding states voiced their feelings of urgency at an emergency meeting Saturday in Berlin to prepare for their meeting with Mr. Cameron Tuesday in Brussels. There, they are expected to ask Cameron to leave the room so they can speak about their plans.聽French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, when he spoke to The Guardian about Saturday's meeting, said Cameron should step aside now so a new leader can manage the transition.
But Cameron and the rest of Britain are still reeling from the political and economic fallouts of the vote. If Cameron has his way, his successor will be chosen in October at the Conservative party conference, where Article 50 will also be invoked. Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London, one of the leaders of the 鈥淟eave鈥� campaign, and a , echoed the prime minister's cautionary approach. Mr. Johnson said there should be 鈥渘o haste鈥� in how Britain breaks from the EU, according to The Guardian.
Ms. Merkel approached the disagreement聽diplomatically聽Saturday.聽
"It should not take ages, that is true, but I would not fight now for a short time frame," she said, according to Reuters. "The negotiations must take place .鈥�
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who will be the first senior American official to visit the European London and Brussels following the referendum vote, echoed Merkel Sunday, .
"The most important thing is that all of us, as leaders, work together to provide as much continuity, as much stability, as much certainty as possible," said Mr. Kerry in Rome, according to the Associated Press.