Europe undergoing "existential crisis": former Spanish PM

Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar said here on Tuesday that the European Union (EU) was undergoing an "existential crisis" following Brexit, saying there was a risk that the desire to leave the EU would spread to other countries.

"Because one country, the United Kingdom, decided to exit the European Union, that could be contagious for other countries, and in the current circumstances, in which there are different forces pushing in different directions, that could put the actual existence of the EU at risk," Anzar said.

The former prime minister added that the answer was not to "finish with Europe," an idea defended by populist parties.

"That would be the worse answer possible," he pointed out, adding that the solution would be to recover the "founding spirit" of the EU.

Aznar said it was vital to tap into the original spirit so as to construct a Europe that is "concentrated in its competences, that respects the identity of national states, and dedicates itself to the banking union, to the internal market," while also citing promoting free trade and common energy policy.

British Prime Minister Theresa May said she would go ahead and trigger Article 50 on Wednesday, thereby launching the formal process an EU member state must go through to leave the EU.