UK attends EU leaders’ summit after Brexit

Global Business

UK attends EU leaders' summit after Brexit

British Prime Minister David Cameron is heading to Brussels on June 28. The U.K.’s exit from the European Union will dominate discussions at the leaders’ summit.

But while the EU wants the U.K. to Brexit quickly, Britain wants more time. CCTV’s Kate Parkinson reports from Brussels.
Follow Kate Parkinson on Twitter @katecctvnews

A flurry of diplomatic activity across Europe on Monday in the wake of the Brexit. The leaders of ALL 28 EU countries – including the U.K. – will meet in Brussels.

Europe’s big guns want the U.K. to get on and start the Brexit talks. But there’s not much they can do about it.

With in the Lisbon Treaty, a 400 odd page agreement which forms the constitutional basis of the European Union, is Article 50 – just five short paragraphs that everyone is talking about at the moment because it is this clause which gives the U.K.the right to leave the union.

But it’s worded in such a way that the EU has no legal means to force the U.K.to launch the exit procedure.

Leading Brexit campaigners including Boris Johnson are demanding informal withdrawal talks before locking Britain into the strict two-year time frame laid down in the Article 50 process.

But the leaders of Germany, France and Italy have ruled that out.

It’s a move designed to put pressure on the U.K. and to try and stop other countries following Britain out of the door amid market fears that the bloc is ‘no longer governable’.


Former US Secretary of Defense William Cohen discusses Brexit’s global impact

For more on the Brexit and it’s implications, CCTV America’s Mike Walter is joined by William Cohen, the former U.S. Secretary of Defense.


British government ministers held cabinet meeting amid a climate of Brexit crisis

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has issued a blunt warning to European leaders not to punish Britain for voting to leave the EU. Speaking in London, Kerry said it was the duty of leaders to implement the will of the people in a way that was responsible and not to be vengeful.

CCTV’s Richard Bestic takes a look at the nuts and bolts of saying goodbye to Brussels.

The message from America’s most senior diplomat was clear and direct. As European Union leaders stepped up pressure on the U.K. government to begin exit talks quickly, Kerry called for wise choices.

“That means choices that to every degree possible are not aimed at retribution, not aimed in anger, rather are thought, through in a way that brings people together,” John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State said.

In Parliament, the U.K.’s outgoing Prime Minister David Cameron was equally straight talking. Britain will begin exit talks when it’s ready, he said and that won’t be before the country has a new leader in two months from now.

Earlier government ministers had arrived for a cabinet meeting amid a climate of crisis. The Pound had resumed its historic slide in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, tumbling to a fresh 31 year low.


Leaving EU could break up UK

Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron said he will step down within a few months leaving it to the country’s next leader to begin divorce proceedings with the EU despite pleas form Brussels to get on with it.

CCTV’s Jack Barton takes a look at the nuts and bolts of saying goodbye to Brussels.

Anti-EU sentiment is higher in France than the U.K., so Paris is particularly keen to stop any chance of a Frexit referendum at home. But Germany may seek to help Britain retain some of its privileges at this week’s leader’s summit.

40 percent of London’s key financial sector deals with cross border trade to the tune of about $ 27 billion a year. But the real headache begins when EU laws no longer apply.

Thousands of pieces of legislation currently covered by the EU on everything from trade to food safety will have to be re-written back at Westminster.

Then there are the variables like Scotland’s wish to remain in the EU. “A second independence referendum is clearly an option that requires to be on the table, and it is very much on the table,” Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland’s First Minister said.

In the end, Britain may find it’s not only dealing with the legal, economic and political headaches of a Brexit, but also the breakup of the United Kingdom.


Rob Allard on Article 50

For more about the market reaction and the impack on European banks, CCTV America’s Michelle Makori spoke to Rob Allard, the CEO of Firebreak Capital.


Brexit vote shakes up global markets

The Brexit vote is taking its toll on the global markets for the second trading day. Investors around the globe offloaded shares on concerns about what comes next and many worry about contagion.

CCTV’s Karina Huber reports.
Follow Karina Huber on Twitter @kkat31

Brexit and the uncertainty surrounding it drove Wall Street lower on Monday after wiping out two trillion dollars globally on Friday. The major indices were down by roughly two percent.

Across the pond in Europe, the major indices also continued to feel the pain. But in Asia there was a bit of respite from Friday’s hammering with Japanese and Chinese markets rallying.

Many traders said they were disappointed and surprised there were no comments from Mario Draghi, the head of the European Central Bank on how to handle Brexit’s negative economic fallout.

Ratings agencies also expressed concern. Standard & Poor’s downgraded the UK’s credit rating from Triple A to Double A and Goldman Sachs said it expects the UK to enter into a recession because of Brexit.