European Parliament urges Britain to begin EU exit Tuesday

BERLIN: The European Parliament's chief called Sunday for British Prime Minister David Cameron to begin formal proceedings to leave the EU at a summit this week.

Martin Schulz told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that a period of limbo over Brexit would "lead to even more insecurity and thus endanger jobs".

"Hesitating simply to accommodate the party tactics of the British Conservatives hurts everyone," he said.

"That is why we expect the British government to now deliver. The summit on Tuesday is the right time."

The four biggest groups in the European Parliament have also drawn up a draft resolution calling for Cameron to set the Brexit ball rolling on Tuesday, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported.

This was crucial, the groups wrote, "to avoid damaging uncertainty for all and to preserve the integrity of the union".