THE UK AND THE EU - TOWARD A NEW RELATIONSHIP

"The British people have voted to leave the European Union and their vote must be respected."

British voters from Scotland to Gibraltar went to the polls yesterday to decide the question: Should the Unite Kingdom remain as a member of the EU or should it leave and forge a new relationship with the EU and the world?  By a margin of 52 to 48 percent, the people of the UK voted to leave the European Union.  Earlier today, in a speech outside 10 Downing Street, Prime Minster David Cameron talked about the result, insisted that it must be respected, and announced his intention to step down as Prime Minister.  "There is no precise timetable," he said, "but in my view we should aim to have a new Prime Minister in place by the start of the Conservative party conference in October."

Here are a few more excerpts from what, in our view, was a speech that perfectly fit the moment:

It is that last phrase which is to us the most important, making it work.  And clearly many with relevant responsibilities have committed themselves to making it work.  One of those is Marcus Kerber, the head of the BDI, the Federation of German Industry.  Speaking to the BBC in advance of the vote,  Mr. Kerber said:

Another is the Director-General of the WTO, Roberto Azevêdo, who responded to the outcome of the referendum today saying:

There is a small Latin phrase which your editor first encountered in a course on international relations oh so many years ago.  It is mutatis mutandis, which, according to the dictionary at hand at the moment, means "the necessary changes having been made."  To say the least, just counting the changes that will need to follow from yesterday's referendum is going to be a Herculean task, to say nothing of implementing them.  In addition to all of the work that the diplomats and officials have in store of them, we expect there will be countless seminars, papers, and colloquiums on the various elements of the exodus.  And indeed the Global Business Dialogue expects to host some of them.

We shall leave those details of execution for later.  Today, it is enough to note that the people of the United Kingdom have spoken; that the Prime Minister has set a new course simply by stating the results firmly and without rancor; and that now everyone needs to move on and make those changes that need to be made. It's almost a battle cry: Mutatis mutandis!

 Cameron's Decision Speech is a link to the page on the UK Government website with the remarks made earlier this morning by British Prime Minister David Cameron.  Standing outside the door of 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister acknowledged yesterday's vote on Britain's EU referendum and announced his intention to step down in three months' time. 

Herr Kerber and the Voice of Reason is a link to the BBC article with the quotations from Markus Kerber of the BDI.