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Britain, EU at odds over timing of divorce talks

The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, top, and the flag of England fly above a souvenir stand on Westminster Bridge following yesterday's EU referendum result, London, Saturday, June 25, 2016. Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland) The flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, top, and the flag of England fly above a souvenir stand on Westminster Bridge following yesterday's EU referendum result, London, Saturday, June 25, 2016. Britain voted to leave the European Union after a bitterly divisive referendum campaign. (AP Photo/Tim Ireland)

By Associated Press June 25, 2016 6 min read

LONDON (AP) – The European Union wants a quickie divorce, but Britain wants time to think things over.

Senior EU politicians demanded Saturday that the U.K. quickly cut its ties with the 28-nation bloc – a process Britain says won’t begin for several months – as the political and economic shockwaves from the U.K.’s vote to leave reverberated around the world.

“There is a certain urgency … so that we don’t have a period of uncertainty, with financial consequences, political consequences,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said at a meeting in Berlin of the EU’s six founding nations.

EU Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker warned that the split was “not an amicable divorce” but noted it was never “a tight love affair anyway.”

Britons voted 52 to 48 percent Thursday in favor of ending their country’s 43-year membership in the 28-nation bloc.