'No need to write, David'
Britain need not send a formal letter to the European Union to trigger a two-year countdown to its exit from the bloc, EU officials said, implying British Prime Minister David Cameron could start the process when he speaks at a summit tomorrow.
"'Triggering' ... could either be a letter to the president of the European Council or an official statement at a meeting of the European Council duly noted in the official records of the meeting," a spokesman for the council of EU leaders said.
A second EU official, asked about mounting frustration among leaders with the British prime minister's delay in delivering the formal notification required to launch divorce proceedings, said: "It doesn't have to be written. He can just say it."
Meanwhile, the European Parliament's chief yesterday called for Britain to begin proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week, as Germany suggested the country should be given time to "reconsider".
Amid confusion and dissent over the timetable for any "Brexit", Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".
"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," Schulz, a German Social Democrat, said.
"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."
However German Chancellor Angela Merkel's chief of staff insisted there was no rush to show Britain the door.
"The political leadership in London should have the chance to reconsider once again the consequences of a withdrawal," Peter Altmaier told the RND media group.
Altmaier had earlier told German public radio that he had "no indication" that British Prime Minister David Cameron would start the Brexit process tomorrow.
"I tend to think that the application will be filed in the coming weeks or months, possibly only by a new government," he said.
The EU will hold a 2-day summit in Brussels starting from tomorrow to discuss the fallout from the British vote and the European Parliament will also hold a special session.
However the four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling tomorrow, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.
This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".
Cameron said Friday in the wake of the shock referendum outcome favouring Britain leaving the EU that he would resign his office by October and leave the Brexit negotiations to his successor.
To begin the withdrawal process, Britain must invoke Article 50 of the EU's Lisbon treaty, which has never been used before.
The first step is to inform the European Council of member states, which sets the clock ticking on a two-year timetable of negotiations.
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