Obama warns against Brexit 'hysteria'

[WASHINGTON] President Barack Obama on Tuesday warned against international "hysteria" following the vote last week for Britain to leave the European Union.

In an interview with the National Public Radio, the US president said that he respected the results of the referendum.

However for Mr Obama, the vote means that "a pause button has been pressed on the project of full European integration." "I would not overstate it," he added.

"There's been a little bit of hysteria post-Brexit vote, as if somehow NATO's gone, the trans-Atlantic alliance is dissolving, and every country is rushing off to its own corner. That's not what's happening."

Mr Obama said the vote "speaks to the ongoing changes and challenges that are raised by globalization." He described the results as a reaction to a rapidly growing European Union "that was probably moving faster and without as much consensus as it should have."

Mr Obama told NPR that he doesn't "anticipate that there is going to be major cataclysmic changes as a consequence of this."

AFP

For more coverage of the EU referendum, visit bt.sg/BrexiT