British Prime Minister Proposes Vote on EU Exit
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British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Wednesday that he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to stay in the European Union – provided he wins a second term – adding that while Britain did not want to retreat from the union, public disillusionment with the European project was at an “all-time high”.
British Prime Minister David Cameron announced on Wednesday that he will offer British citizens a vote on whether to stay in the European Union – provided he wins a second term – adding that while Britain did not want to retreat from the union, public disillusionment with the European project was at an “all-time high”.
In his eagerly awaited speech on his vision for the future of the 27-nation bloc, Cameron said that while Britain wants to play a committed and active role in a reformed EU, the European project will fail unless it tackles several difficult challenges, which include the eurozone debt crisis, a lack of market competitiveness and faltering public support in the EU, citing street protests in Athens, Madrid and Rome, as well as heated parliamentary debates in Berlin, Helsinki and The Hague.
“If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit,” he said. “I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success. And I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.”
Addressing the need for British people to have a say over the UK’s membership, Cameron said the time has come “for us to settle this question about Britain and Europe,” adding that his Conservative party would campaign for the 2015 parliamentary election on a promise to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership in the EU.
“When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice to stay in the European Union on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum,” Cameron said.
The Prime Minister did not go into specifics about what areas of the relationship would be renegotiated, nor did he detail what he would do if he failed to win concessions in Europe, as many believe is likely. However, lawmakers from Cameron’s party have suggested a range of powers they would like to seize back from EU institutions including those related to employment, crime and justice.
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Cameron acknowledged that democratic consent for the EU was “wafer thin” in Britain and public disillusionment with the union at an all time high, but he said that ignoring the issue “won’t make it go away.” “I believe in confronting this issue—shaping it, leading the debate, not simply hoping a difficult situation will go away.”
But Cameron also warned that leaving the EU would be a “one-way ticket, not a return” and that Britain needed to have a proper, reasoned debate before deciding its future. He said he hoped the referendum would settle the issue for “at least a generation”.
[quote] A referendum would mark the second time British voters have had a direct say on the issue. In 1975, they decided by a wide margin to stay in, two years after the country had joined. [/quote]
European leaders reacted strongly against Cameron’s speech, insisting that the EU could not be treated as “a la carte”.
“The EU does not need unwilling Europeans,” said Mario Monti, Italy’s Prime Minister and a former European Commissioner. “We need more, not less integration,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said, adding that “a policy of cherry-picking will not work” and all EU countries must abide by the same laws.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo warned Cameron against playing “a very dangerous game by feeding euro-scepticism.”
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The United States, a close ally, is also uneasy about the plan, believing it will dilute Britain’s international clout. President Barack Obama told Cameron last week that Washington valued “a strong UK in a strong European Union” and the White House said on Wednesday it believed Britain’s membership of the EU was mutually beneficial.
