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Britain votes to leave EU: 'Nobody knows where we are going'

17:34 24/06/2016
British business leaders and a Belgian political scientist react to today's Brexit vote

Britain's decision to leave the European Union "adds a new level of uncertainty" for British firms doing business in Belgium, the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium has warned.

British voters opted to leave the EU by 51.9% of the vote in last night's referendum - and the body responsible for representing UK firms in Belgium says it is important that the negotiations on Brexit are done quickly and clearly.

Belgium is the seventh largest export market for the UK and has a sizeable British business community. Thomas Spiller, president of the British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, said: "A deal needs to be found. As the Chamber we advocate for as short as possible negotiating period and as clear as possible an outcome.

"It's all about clarity. The longer this period of negotiation lasts the less good it is for businesses to invest in the EU. This vote adds a new level of uncertainty."

He added: "Clearly we are opening a new chapter in EU relations. Nobody knows where we are going - but we are going somewhere."

'This could take a very long time'

Dave Sinardet, a political scientist at VUB university in Brussels said the Brexit vote was "not what the European Union needed".

"This is a blow, this is another crisis," he said. "The question is now how is the EU going to react - how are the negotiations going to develop with the UK in the next few weeks, months and maybe years. This could of course take a very long time."

"The EU is quite divided on how to react to this. Clearly some of them will want to avoid copycat actions - that this will spread over to other European countries, that Eurosceptic movements might use this as a precedent.

"Clearly a number of European leaders will not necessarily want to make it easy for the UK in the coming negotiations - if they give the idea that it's quite easy to leave the EU that could create a precedent."

He said the campaigning in the run-up to the referendum had showed "a profound lack of knowledge of how the European Union works".

"I wonder whether the most fervent of Brexiteers have thought this through," he added. "This might be the beginning of the end of the United Kingdom."

British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium chief executive Glenn Vaughan said: "The British Chamber of Commerce is here to support and work with its members and help them to further their business. They will no doubt have many concerns at this time. Circumstances have changed. We will be doing the same thing.

"The relationship between the UK and the EU remains hugely important. We know it is going to be difficult to negotiate, but it's essential that we do that and we do it quickly."

Comments

Anon2

It's sad and scary how politicians can get away with misleading and misinforming an entire country.

Jun 25, 2016 12:44