Brexit leaves Europe in shock and fearing further breakaways from the EU

What now? Europe reels in shock as Britain votes to leave.

A vote leave supporter with a poster in London on June 24, 2016. Toby Melville/ Reuters

MARSEILLE // For some it was an occasion for sadness and concern, for others a source of thinly-veiled relief. For Eurosceptics in some European Union countries, Britain’s decision to end 43 years of membership served as an inspiration.

“It is a victory for liberty,” declared Marine Le Pen, leader of France’s far right Front National (FN) who joined her Dutch counterpart, Geert Wilders, in demanding referendums for their nations.

Both the FN and Mr Wilders’s Freedom party are deeply anti-Islam and interpret the outcome of the British vote as a response not only to EU encroachment on national sovereignty but also its failure to cope effectively with large-scale immigration, chiefly from Muslim countries.

A more spectacular break-up of the union may be an improbable worst-case scenario for the more passionate supporters of the bloc. But even the traditional parties of left and right accept that the EU simply has to change if growing public disenchantment is to be countered.

Miss Le Pen and Mr Wilders were quicker off the mark than mainstream European political figures. Not until hours after their instant reactions did the heads of the EU’s twin driving forces, Germany and France, offer their comments.

German chancellor Angela Merkel said her government noted the referendum result ”with regret” and said history placed a special responsibility on Germany to ensure the success of the union and its unification process.

French president Francois Hollande promised after an emergency cabinet meeting to accelerate reform, recognising a need to “understand [Europe’s] shortcomings”.

While there was diplomatic acknowledgement of the right of the British to express their will, other politicians and public figures hinted at a desire to see the back of Britain as soon as the mechanics of withdrawal allow.

The European edition of the Politico website (politico.eu) headlined its report of how Brussels would react to the historic first departure of a member state, published as voting was in progress: “Europe’s Brexit greeting: sorry and good riddance”.

Politico quoted the German finance minister Wolfgang Schauble’s words – “In is in, and out is out” – while similar thoughts were on the lips of other politicians.

“There cannot be any special treatment,” tweeted Manfred Weber, the leader of the largest group in the European Parliament, the conservative European People’s Party. “Leave means leave.”

A tone of exasperation was also struck by the presidents of the European council, commission and parliament – Donald Tusk, Jean-Claude Juncker and Martin Schulz respectively – along with Mark Rutte, prime minister of the Netherlands, which holds the rotating EU presidency.

Describing their united response to an “unprecedented situation”: “We now expect the UK government to give effect to this decision as soon as possible, however painful that process may be. Any delay would unnecessarily prolong uncertainty.”

The much-criticised agreement of February, providing disputed concessions that the British prime minister David Cameron hoped would persuade voters to opt for Remain, now “ceases to exist”, the officials said. “There will be no renegotiation.”

What lies ahead is troubling for business leaders in the UK or trading with it from mainland EU nations, expatriates living - whether retired or working - on both sides of the English Channel and British employees of European companies.

Nelson Sivalingam, founder of founder of Wonderush.com, which aims to equip small businesses to fight the big corporations, said Europe had played an integral part in facilitating the “mobility of talent”, enabling British high-tech businesses to compete globally. He feared Brexit could expose start-ups to multiple regulations from the UK and the EU.

“It is a deeply historical moment, with unknown and unknowable outcomes,” said Prof Brigid Laffan, director of the European University Institute’s Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies in Florence, Italy.

The first repercussions of Brexit were being felt, she said, referring to turmoil in the financial markets and Mr Cameron’s decision to step down. The UK was now a divided country.

Prof Laffan argued that the Leave decision threatened to unsettle economies and politics in the wider world.

The uncertainty she identified was widespread. The UK has large communities drawn from different EU countries; London is routinely, if inaccurately, described as France’s sixth city because two thirds of the UK’s estimated 300,000 French citizens are in the capital.

A similar number of Britons lived and either worked or spent retirement in France, often dependent on sterling pensions.

Withdrawal, which could take as long as two years to complete, was as important to them as to companies with business interests stretched across the divide.

But for now, the Brexit camp is cock-a-hoop, with Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, calling for June 23, the date of the referendum, to become Britain’s independence day.

The defeated Remainers are left to lick their wounds, sometimes with bitterness. “The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter,” tweeted one disgruntled exile, quoting the late British statesman Winston Churchill. On which way Churchill would have voted, the jury is still deliberating.