MADRID, June 24 (Xinhua) -- Acting Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy made an appeal for calm on Friday following the result of Thursday's Brexit referendum in which the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU.
The result was met by an immediate fall in share values on the Spanish stock market with Spanish banks seeing around 20 percent knocked off their shares.
Speaking from the Palacio del la Moncloa just two days before Spaniards go to the polls in their second general election in six months, Rajoy, reminded people that the procedure which takes the UK from the EU "will last for at least two years and during that time the relation between the United Kingdom and Spain will not change and the rights of European citizens will remain the same."
"I want to make a call for calm for the decision taken by the British. Rights will remain with no restrictions until the negotiated exit in relation to the treaties is completed. That is to say that Spanish citizens will retain their rights to work, receive pensions and to travel freely in the United Kingdom. They will not be affected at all for at least two years," he said.
Rajoy also appealed for "calm and serenity" from the business community and also for Spanish citizens who work in Gibraltar.
