Top diplomats from the European Union’s six founding member states were meeting for emergency talks in Berlin as Europe’s governments and institutions scrambled to respond to Britain’s momentous decision to leave the bloc.
The foreign ministers of France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg were convened by their German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who warned it was vital that the bloc see the shock Brexit vote, by 52%-48%, as a wakeup call.
EU politicians must listen "to the expectations of the European governments, but also to the expectations of the people", Steinmeier said, but cautioned against rash decisions. "It’s totally clear that in times like these one should neither be hysterical, nor fall into paralysis," he said as the talks began.
Italy’s prime minister, Matteo Renzi, was flying to Paris for an informal dinner with President François Hollande to discuss the fallout from Thursday’s vote, which sent the pound plunging to its lowest level since 1985 and wiped more than £2tn of value from world stock markets.
Steinmeier’s office said the Berlin meeting was one of series of talks taking place around the continent, and shouldn’t be seen as "an exclusive format".
The talks come ahead of a key meeting in Berlin on Monday between the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, Hollande and Renzi, as well as the president of the European council, Donald Tusk.
The EU’s 28 commissioners, including the UK’s Jonathan Hill, are also due to meet in Brussels on Monday, with a summit of national leaders – without David Cameron – following on Tuesday.
The talks come after the president of the European parliament, Martin Schulz, confirmed the bloc wanted Britain out as soon as possible and warned that Cameron’s decision to delay the start of Brexit negotiations until his successor is in place may not be fast enough.
Cameron announced on Friday morning that he would step down as prime minister by the autumn. Schulz told the Guardian that EU lawyers were studying whether it was possible to speed up the triggering of article 50 of the Lisbon treaty – the untested procedure for leaving the union.
He said it was difficult to accept that "a whole continent is taken hostage because of an internal fight in the Tory party", adding that he doubted the timing of article 50 was down to the UK alone. He said: "We have to take note of this unilateral declaration that they want to wait until October, but that must not be the last word."
Schulz’s comments were partially echoed by the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, who said there was no reason to wait until October to begin negotiating Britain’s departure.
"Britons decided yesterday that they want to leave the European Union, so it doesn’t make any sense to wait until October to try to negotiate the terms of their departure," Juncker told Germany’s ARD television station. "I would like to get started immediately."
With anti-European sentiment on the rise across the continent, national governments outside Europe’s capital sought urgently to prevent any contagion from the UK vote, urging swift reforms to the 60-year-old bloc. Calls for similar referendums were made in France, the Netherlands and Sweden.
Cameron said in his resignation speech on Friday that it would be up to his successor – expected to be appointed before the Conservative party conference in October – to trigger article 50. Once that is done, the clock starts running on two years of negotiations.
Boris Johnson, the former mayor of London and a leading leave campaigner, said there should be "no haste" in the preparations for the exit of Britain, the first sovereign country to vote to leave the union.
Tusk said the 27 remaining members of the bloc would meet next week to assess its future without Britain. "It is a historic moment, but not a moment for hysterical reactions," he said.
In Berlin, Merkel, expressed "great regret" at Britain’s decision, but said the EU should not draw "quick and simple conclusions" that might create new and deeper divisions.
The Handelsblatt newspaper said a leaked eight-page emergency Brexit plan suggested the German government should push for an "associative status" for Britain after two years of "difficult divorce negotiations".
The document indicated that Germany would drive a hard bargain to "avoid offering false incentives for other member states when settling on new arrangements". Specifically, the paper advocates "no automatic access to the single market", Handelsblatt reported on Friday afternoon.
While Brussels talked tough, a chorus of European capitals, anxious to avoid clashes with their own Eurosceptic citizens, stressed that the Brexit vote should be seen as a wakeup call for a union that was increasingly losing touch with its people.
Speaking in Paris, Hollande said he "profoundly regretted" the Brexit vote but that the EU had to make changes. In a brief televised statement, Hollande said the vote would put Europe to the test. "To move forward, Europe cannot act as before," he said.
Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said the EU had to become "more relevant, deliver added value to our lives: jobs, growth, control of our external borders".
He said he personally felt "this strong discontent with Europe, the Europe of the lofty speeches. Most of my EU colleagues also share this view. They too don’t want any more big visions, conventions and treaties."
