The Brexit Aftermath.docVIP

The Brexit Aftermath 　　Britain’s exit （Brexit） from the EU has actually kicked off， as Leave supporters won a majority by 51.9 to 48.1 percent in a historic referendum held on June 23. After the final result was announced， Prime Minister David Cameron of the Conservative Party said outside 10 Downing Street in London that he will stand down by October. 　　“I think the country requires fresh leadership to take it in this direction，” Cameron said. The prime minister campaigned for Britain to remain as an EU member， but the result went against his wishes. 　　 Lukewarm relationship 　　Europe and the rest of the world have been shocked by Britain’s decision to leave. However， for the British people， Brexit is not a fresh idea. Britain has a long history of maintaining relative isolation from the European continent in the past. 　　There was even suspicion among the British when other European countries conceived the idea of regional integration after World War II. 　　On September 19， 1946， Winston Churchill delivered a speech at Zurich University in Switzerland expressing support for European integration. “We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living，”Churchill said. Critically， though， he dismissed British membership of Europe’s regional organization. “France and Germany must take the lead together. Great Britain， the British Commonwealth of Nations， mighty America， and I trust the Soviet Union… must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe，” he added. 　　Britain became a fully-fledged member of the European Economic Community （EEC）， the predecessor of the EU， in 1973 under the Conservative Government of Prime Minister Edward Heath. Heath was optimistic that the accession would bring prosperity to his country.“It is going to be a gradual development and obviously things are not going to happen overnight，” he said. “And this will ena