Britain woke up to an uncertain future on June 24, the day after the country voted in a referendum to leave the European Union.
A total of 52 percent of voters voted to leave the EU, but
the vote was sharply divided on geographical lines, leading to fears that it
might trigger the breakup of the UK. Scotland voted 62 percent to 38 percent
against leaving, while Northern Ireland voted 55.8 percent to 44.2 percent
against leaving.
The referendum claimed its first political casualty just
hours after its result was declared, with UK Prime Minister David Cameron
announcing he would step down in three months. Meanwhile, two MPs of the left-wing
Labour Party have submitted a motion of no-confidence in their leader Jeremy
Corbyn, the BBC reported. The motion may be discussed at an upcoming meeting of
the parliamentary Labour Party.
Speaking outside the prime minister’s residence, No. 10
Downing Street, Cameron, as had been widely expected in the case of the loss of
the Remain campaign that he led, said that he would resign.
“I do not think it would be right for me to be the
captain who steers the country to its next destination,” Cameron said.
In other immediate fallout from the referendum result, the
value of the pound against the dollar slumped to $1.3236, its lowest level
since 1985. The reaction of the stock market was also negative, with the
British FTSE 250 index plunging by 11.4 percent, the worst decline since 1987.
Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, speaking after
the announcement of Cameron’s resignation, said that with Scotland voting to
remain in the EU, but England and Wales voting out, it was “highly likely” that
there would be another referendum on Scottish independence.
She said it was “democratically unacceptable” that Scotland
would be removed from the EU against its will, the BBC reported.
Abroad, leaders and politicians expressed regret over
Britain’s decision to pull out of the EU.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko wrote on his Facebook page
that he was sorry about Britain’s decision to leave EU, but that he hoped that the
UK would still support EU sanctions against Russia.
“I believe that, despite the referendum result, Britain will
remain united with Europe and defend common European values,” Poroshenko wrote.
But others pointed to possible dangers to Ukraine arising
from the June 23 “Brexit” referendum.
“Brexit makes for a weaker pro-Ukrainian coalition in EU. The
perfect gift for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin has been delivered. Only
internal reforms will make Ukraine stronger,” Ukrainian lawmaker Sergii Leshchenko
wrote on Twitter.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister for European and
Euro-Atlantic Integration Ivanna Klympush-Tsintsadze said in a video statement
that the result of the referendum was “a challenge.”
“It’s a pity that populism and short-sightedness won in
Britain,” Klympush-Tsintsadze said. “It (Brexit) will decrease the EU’s ability
to respond to the threats faced by the civilized world. It’s a challenge not
only for EU, but for the whole world,” she said.
Alternative approach
However, the Brexit vote does not mean that the UK will immediately
cut its relations with the EU – the process of its withdrawal will take two
years at least, and most probably longer. For one thing, the UK will have to
negotiate trade agreements with the EU.
Once that happens, the UK will trade with the remaining EU
states on a similar basis to the other non-EU states in Europe.
Norway and Liechtenstein, for instance, trade with the EU
through the European Economic Area agreement. Switzerland sell its goods to the
union through bilateral trade agreements.
Norway has twice refused to join the EU, at two referendums
in 1972 and 1994.
Norwegian ambassador to Ukraine and Belarus Jon Elvedal
Fredriksen told the Kyiv Post by phone that his country was unlikely to join
the union in future.
“Most opinion polls since then show that there is a still
majority for Norway not to join the European Union,” Fredriksen said.
He said that the main reasons Norway decided not to join the
EU were that Norway is still a young state, unwilling to give up its
independence (Norway became independent in 1905), and that country’s trade in
gas, oil, and seafood would benefit from not being regulated by the EU. Fredriksen
said that the number of people against the EU was especially high in coastal
Norway.
Fredriksen said that before the referendum in 1994, Norway
signed the EEA agreement, which was an economic alternative. It allows Norway
to sell its goods to EU countries under the same conditions as EU member states.
Moreover, Fredriksen said that EEA was not just a trade
agreement, as it includes other deals between Norway and the EU, such as agreement
to resolve trade disputes in courts in Brussels.
“The EU is the most important market for Norway,” Fredriksen
said, adding the in the first five months of this year 79 percent of Norwegian
exports went to the EU.
