Having become unavoidable after this summer’s
\nreferendum, when Britons decided to leave the European Union, the split between
\nLondon and Brussels has already entered the procedural stage. British Prime
\nMinister Theresa May has confirmed she plans to start the process of
\nBritain’s withdrawal from the Union in six-months’ time that is in the spring
\nof 2017. Theresa May has also said that Britain will do its best to open a new
\nchapter in its relationship with Brussels as an independent, sovereign UK.
\nAlmost immediately after the announcement, the European Commission put former
\nFrench prime minister and EU commissioner Michel Barnier, seen by the Brexit
\nsupporters as a notorious anti-British, in charge of the EU’s Brexit
\nnegotiations. For the time being, in spite of the European Commission’s
\nintention to make the split from Britain official as soon as possible, Barnier
\nhas to wait. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
For the UK
\nto leave the EU it has to invoke an agreement called Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, forged in 2009, which gives the two sides two years to
\nagree the terms of the split. According
\nto commentators, the new partnership between Brussels and London might take
\nNorway or Switzerland as a model, two countries that are in a de facto
\nsymbiosis with the EU, without being among its members. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
In the meantime, however, as a confirmation of what the
\nmedia dubbed as one of the most severe crisis in the EU history, Hungarians
\noverwhelmingly supported the government in a referendum on Sunday called to
\noppose any mandatory European Union quotas for accepting relocated asylum seekers.
\nThe good news for Brussels is, though, that the referendum failed due to low
\nturnout. Nevertheless, 98 percent of those who cast valid ballots backed the
\ngovernment. The Radio Romania correspondent in Budapest quoted Hungarian PM
\nViktor Orban as saying that nine out of ten participants in the ballot voted in
\nfavour of Hungary’s right to take its own decisions in the matter. Although
\nsome political analysts see the low voter turnout as a lesson taught to their
\nincreasingly authoritarian prime minister, the Hungarians, Viktor Orban says,
\nmust be proud to be the first in Europe to have a say on the matter. Orban went
\non to say that in the following days he would present Parliament with a bill
\nfor the revision of the Constitution, in keeping with the Hungarian citizens’
\nwill, and that Brussels officials would have no choice but to take the
\nreferendum into account. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Britains leaving the EU and Hungarys referendum on immigration make the European Union go through the most serious crisis in its 50-year history, political analysts say.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":105,"featured_media":70193,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[14005,29966,38639,29819],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-70192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-brexit","tag-european-union","tag-hungary-referendu","tag-immigration"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n