Withdrawal from European Union

Britain has voted by 52 per cent to 48 per cent to leave the European Union (EU) after 43 years in a historic referendum, BBC reported on Friday. Britain would be the first country to leave the EU since its formation but a leave vote will not immediately mean Britain ceases to be a member of the 28-nation bloc.

That process could take a minimum of two years, with leave campaigners suggesting that the referendum campaign may not be completed until 2020 -- the date of the next scheduled general election. The EU was established under its current name in 1993 following the Maastricht Treaty. Telegraph writes that after the Second World War there was a new movement to create unity between Germany and France, which would ultimately lay the foundations for the European Union four decades later.

Its predecessors were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed in 1951 and 1958 respectively by the Inner Six countries of Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Withdrawal from the Union is a right of the member-states under the Treaty on European Union (Article 50) known as Lisbon Treaty: "Any Member State may decide to withdraw from the Union in accordance with its own constitutional requirements."

In 1975, the United Kingdom held a national referendum on withdrawal from its predecessor, the EEC; 67.2% of voters chose to remain in the Community. The Lisbon Treaty was signed by the heads of state and government of the 27 EU Member States on 13 December 2007. It is intended to reform the functioning of the European Union following the two waves of enlargement which have taken place since 2004 and which have increased the number of EU Member States from 15 to 27.

The Lisbon Treaty was drafted as a replacement for the Constitutional Treaty which was rejected by French and Dutch voters in 2005. The Lisbon Treaty includes key changes aimed at increasing the consistency and coherence of the EU's external actions. It provides for a so-called "High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy" who will be responsible in the Council for the EU's common foreign and defence policies.