EU members to hold urgent conference to discuss Brexit

As Britain has voted in the historic referendum to leave the European Union (EU), the 28-nation bloc, EU members have to react quickly to prepare for the "divorce process" by holding an extraordinary conference.

In order to leave the union, the British government will first have to launch a proposal to activate Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty. Then, Britain should hold a vote in the national Parliament. Only once this has passed will Britain be able to formally notify the European Council of its decision to quit the EU.

Though EU members have been saying for weeks that there is no "plan B" for a Brexit, they will have to hold an extraordinary conference of political group leaders in the European Parliament at 8:00 a.m. (0600 GMT)Friday, to determine the Parliament's position on Britain's referendum result.

Top European officials from four EU institutions, namely European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, European Council President Donald Tusk, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, whose government holds the rotating EU presidency, will meet at 10:30 a.m. (0830 GMT) to discuss the outcome of the British referendum, according to Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman of the European Commission.

The meeting will be the first coordinated effort by institution leaders in Brussels to prepare the next step of the "Brexit" process.

The first political discussion among all 28 EU countries will also be on Friday morning in Luxembourg at a European ministers' meeting, known as the EU General Affairs Council.

All meetings and declarations from Friday will be part of preparations for the summit scheduled for next Tuesday and Wednesday, when leaders from EU member states and institutions will set the direction for what has to be done to perform a Brexit. Endi