Although an eerie calm may have settled on Europe now that the immediacy of the decision by the United Kingdom to leave the European Union (EU) has sunk in, it should not lull the Caribbean into a sense of false security or inaction.
It has arisen because much is now on hold until a new British Prime Minister is formally appointed in September; a future approach to the UK’s relationship with the EU27 is agreed; the relevant article of Europe’s Lisbon Treaty is invoked to leave; and Britain embarks, first on a two-year process of negotiation to leave, and then agrees some as yet uncertain new form of relationship.
Although few are prepared to say so, it is also likely that the process will be slow because both the