LIVE BLOG: Britain 'Brexits,' Sparking New World Order

Media across Europe chime in

European media has been weighing in on the British vote.

The editor of France’s Libération newspaper, Laurent Joffrin, warned in today’s edition that Brexit would be “an example, a precedent, a dangerous shock that would encourage nationalism, that poison for which Europe is the antidote.”

He described Britain as “a country that is suspicious, that tenses and closes in on itself.”

France’s Le Parisien newspaper worries that a Brexit would have “a snowball effect” and encourage “populist and Europhobic movements” in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and France.

Italy’s leftwing, and pro-EU, La Repubblica dubs today as “Europe’s longest day.” Italy’s anti-EU Il Giornale carried a photograph of a “Keep Calm & Vote Leave” campaign truck.

Most newspapers in Scandinavian countries express fear today that Britain will leave, depriving them of a valuable ally in the halls of power in Brussels. The rightwing Berlingske in Denmark implored the British, “please stay.”

In an editorial the paper’s editors said: “As a nation, we in Denmark understand your skepticism about the EU, perhaps better than any other country. Three times we voted no - in 1992, 2000 and 2015 - but never out.”

The paper said: “Britain’s voice in the EU is important – both for us in Denmark and for the rest of Europe. Your persistent fight for free trade and breaking down regulation and bureaucracy is a driving force and one that helps us work together to stem the harmful protectionism which might start to dominate an EU without Britain.”

Spain’s El Pais said it would be better for Britain to be in than out. In an editorial, the paper commented: “For all its disadvantages, limitations and shortcomings, the EU is one of the greatest political and economic successes of recent history – as President Obama pointed out in Hanover. So why leave it? Why damage it? … Britons, vote in our name. Please.”

Belgium’s Le Soir remarked dryly: “For those who are convinced of the necessity of pursuing European integration – a position which is always strong in Belgium – the prospect of seeing the exit of the eternal outsider and troublemaker has a certain attraction.”

But the paper concludes that without the Britain, the EU would be more vulnerable to its enemies and in thrall to nationalists.

Germany’s Bild tabloid, in its effort to persuade the British to stay, promised that Germany would supply all the ‘baddies’ for James Bond movies.