Respect was the predominant tone among European leaders following UK Prime Minister Theresa May's resignation. But they warned that her successor will have to provide "rapid clarification" on Brexit.
May's decision comes at a time when the legislation covering the UK's exit from the EU remains stuck in Parliament, as lawmakers have so far been unable to agree on the contours of a withdrawal agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was keen to extol the virtues of her relationship with May, saying: "I always worked very well with the British Prime Minister."
Merkel also stressed that future relations would remain unharmed, despite the upheaval. "Britain's departure from the European Union is a major transition and regardless of what happens now in Britain, the German government will do everything to achieve a good partnership, an orderly exit and good cooperation," she said.
French President Emmanuel Macron urged "rapid clarification" from Britain on what it wants from Brexit. In a statement released by the Elysee Palace, Macron said he stands ready to work with a new British prime minister, but that "the principles of the EU will continue to apply, with the priority on the smooth functioning of the EU."
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar warned that the election of a new prime minister in Britain may lead to a new phase in Brexit negotiations that could be "very dangerous" for Ireland.
"We may see the election of a euroskeptic prime minister who wants to repudiate the withdrawal agreement and go for no deal or we may even see a new British government that wants to see a closer relationship with the EU and goes for a second referendum," Varadkar told Ireland's Virgin Media News.
"But whatever happens we are going to hold our nerve. We are going to strengthen and build our alliances across the European Union and we will make sure that we see Ireland through this," Varadkar said.
Who are the candidates to replace Theresa May?
Following Theresa May's resignation as Tory leader on June 7, there are several Conservative candidates going into the first round of voting to replace her as party leader, and as a consequence, UK prime minister.
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Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson is the bookmakers' favorite to become Britain's next prime minister. "BoJo" is widely tipped following stints as mayor of London and as foreign secretary in Theresa May's government. The 54-year-old has threatened to refuse to pay the UK's agreed debts to the EU unless the withdrawal agreement is changed.
Image: Reuters/A. Yates
Michael Gove
A leading driver behind Brexit, Gove's leadership campaign took a hit when a new book was published revealing he had taken cocaine on several occasions when working as a journalist 20 years ago.
Image: Getty Images/C. J. Ratcliff
Jeremy Hunt
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt's chances improved as Gove's declined. The 52-year-old voted to remain in the EU and claimed he had spoken to Chancellor Angela Merkel about Brexit during the D-Day celebrations. He said she told him: "Germany doesn’t have a border with the Republic of Ireland, you do, so you need to come up with a solution."
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Pezzali
Sajid Javid
The son of a Pakistani immigrant bus driver, Sajid Javid is the current UK Home Secretary (interior minister), a role for which he has received mixed reviews. He had a successful banking career with Chase Manhattan and Deutsche Bank before entering parliament in 2010. During the Brexit referendum, Javid was on the Remain side but — like Theresa May — was guarded in his support for the cause.
Image: Reuters/T. Melville
Rory Stewart
Educated at Eton College — the same school attended by Boris Johnson and David Cameron — Rory Stewart is currently International Development Secretary. A former diplomat who trekked thousands of kilometers across the Middle East and South Asia, he also served as a senior official governing parts of post-invasion Iraq. Stewart is strongly opposed to Britain leaving without a deal.
Image: Reuters/H. Nicholls
Dominic Raab
Former Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab, the son of a Jewish refugee who fled Nazi Germany, said the possibility of sidelining parliament to force through Brexit should not be ruled out. He was widely mocked in 2018 when he said he "hadn't quite understood" how reliant UK trade is on the Dover-Calais crossing. Raab fell out of the race after getting 30 votes in the second round, 3 fewer than needed.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/M. Dunham
Matt Hancock
Health Secretary Matt Hancock entered the race to replace the PM the day after her resignation. Although he campaigned for Remain during the referendum, Hancock has said he now believes Britain should leave the EU with a deal. Probably the most tech-savvy of the contenders, Hancock received barely enough support to continue after the first round of voting and opted to drop out of consideration.
Image: Imago/P. Maclaine
Esther McVey
Former television presenter Esther McVey declared her intention to stand long before May resigned. The vocal Brexit hardliner resigned as work and pensions secretary in November, protesting at the terms of May's withdrawal deal. She is no longer a contender after getting only 9 votes of 313 in the first round of voting.
Image: Getty Images/L. Neal
Andrea Leadsom
Leadsom quit as Leader of the House of Commons the week of May's resignation announcement. She came second in a leadership bid in 2016 but was criticized at the time for saying that being a mother would give her an advantage as prime minister after May had previously spoken of her anguish at not being able to conceive. Leadsom is out of the race after getting only 11 votes in the first round.
A former immigration minister and chief whip, Harper was behind the Home Office's "go home" message to immigrants printed on vans. He said it is not credible Brexit could be renegotiated and passed before the end of October. An outsider in the leadership race, Harper is no longer under consideration after he got only 10 votes in the first round of selection.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said that he had spoken to May to convey his thanks and respect following her announcement. He tweeted that "the deal reached between the European Union and Britain for an orderly Brexit remains on the table."
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis said he hopes Britons will have the opportunity to hold fresh elections to choose the country's leadership followed by a second Brexit referendum, adding that such a result would be "the best for all."
"I still hope that [Britain] will hold a snap election and at the end they will have one more referendum," he said. "That the [British] people finally understand that the misinformation that they received [about Brexit] is not true and Britain will stay in the European Union."
Spain, however, warned that a hard Brexit seems almost impossible to avoid after May's resignation. "The British government, the British Parliament" would be "solely responsible for a no-deal exit [from the EU] and its consequences," said Spanish government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa.
Predicting "difficult times" ahead, Celaa said Britain's anticipated "disorderly exit" was "a clear example of what can happen if we let ourselves get swept along by extremes."
Meanwhile, the European Commission said President Jean-Claude Juncker will "equally respect and establish working relations" with the new UK prime minister, "whoever that might be." Juncker also lauded May as "a woman of courage," and said he viewed her resignation "without personal joy."
Britain is set to leave the EU without a deal on October 31 unless an agreement can be reached with the bloc that is also acceptable to Britain's Parliament.
