Post by bot on Jun 26, 2016 16:29:42 GMT -5
Hoyer Statement on the United Kingdom's Vote to Leave the European Union
WASHINGTON, DC - House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer (MD) released the following statement this morning after the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union:
"I am very disappointed that the United Kingdom has chosen to separate from the European Union. It is clear that this act of self-inflicted instability was fueled, in no small part, by the anti-immigrant, isolationist populism we're seeing on the rise throughout the world and even here at home. This morning, millions of Britons and tens of millions more across Europe and America awoke to the shocking and unsettling real-world consequences of ignoring the dangers that movement presents. At the same time, I would caution those leaders in other European nations who may be seeking to exploit this vote and this populism for their own ends, that the United States continues to support European integration and unity in order to meet with strength the common challenges posed by economic instability, Russian expansionism, and extremist terror.
"Regardless of British voters' decision to leave the European Union, the United Kingdom will continue to have a major role to play in the security and economy of Europe. Now it is up to leaders in London and Brussels to ensure that the next steps undertaken provide reassurance to financial markets and sketch the outlines of a future relationship based on close cooperation and the pursuit of shared opportunities. The peoples of Britain and Europe have worked too hard and too long together to permit a withdrawal from the European Union to disrupt commerce, research, security cooperation, and other joint pursuits that benefit both.
"This vote will certainly not change, however, the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. That partnership will continue, as it has before, to serve as a foundation for the global system that preserves peace and stability around the world. So too will our strong relationship with the European Union. Together, Americans and Britons, whose troops fought and fell side-by-side on the battlefields of two world wars in defense of freedom and continue to serve together in Iraq and Afghanistan today, must continue to work closely to ensure that the project of European integration - so essential to the peace, prosperity, and liberty of that continent - moves ahead with the United Kingdom in a new but no less important role."