As you probably know, the United Kingdom is going to hold a referendum on the British membership in the European Union. For now, the results of the forthcoming event are hard to predict. Still, experts assume that in case Great Britain decides to exit the European Union, this will undermine the E.U. In case the Brexit (stands for “British exit”) is the choice, Europe will get less concerned about the situation in Ukraine as European members focus more on domestic problems and threats. If that’ the case, Russia will definitely benefit from it, the experts say.
The British referendum is planned for June 23rd, 2016. This s the very day when the British will have to decided whether to stay a E.U. member or quit the union forever. This event will put an end to the endless discussion of the problem.
It is interesting to note that Prime Minister David Cameron supports the idea of staying in the European Union. By the way, this is going to be the second referendum of such type in the history of the United Kingdom. The thing is, Great Britain has always claimed a privileged status within the scope of the European Union. That is why the United Kingdom has always been at odds with the German-French tandem in the E.U. regarding several policies and the future of the European Union.
Back in 1975, It was the Laborists who initiated a similar referendum regarding the U.K.’s membership in the predecessor of the European Union. This time, it was the Conservators. It is interesting to note that Prime Minister Cameron was one of those who initiated the idea. Now he supports the opposite side by promoting the idea of staying a E.U. member. However, it should be noted that today’s stakes are much higher as the United Kingdom is betting big and the entire future of the European Union is at stake.
What did Mr. Cameron achieve?
On February 19th, European leaders approved the majority of the offers put forward by the U.K. authorities in November 2015 and designed to enhance Great Britain’s exceptional status within the scope of the European Union. In particular, the U.K. government claimed the right to avoid participating in the E.U. political integration as well as to expand the rights of national parliaments in the European Union and cap the benefits to refugees. They also want the E.U. to do away with bureaucracy within the scope of a common market and secure the rights of 9 E.U. members that do not belong to the Eurozone.
European leaders say that the United Kingdom doesn’t have to go for tighter European political integration or participate in creating a common European army. They also introduced the so-called Red Card rule, which means that 55% of the members of the local parliaments will get the right to veto any E.U. draft bill.
In the meantime, the biggest advocates of the idea of quitting the European Union are the so-called U.K. Independence Party (UKIP for short).
Even though it has almost no seats in the U.K. Parliament, the latest parliamentary elections that took place in late 2015 brought the party a whole 12,7% of votes. The UKIP is mostly represented by the middle class that went poor, the population of depressing suburbs who see the migrants from new E.U. countries as their rivals in the local labor market amid growing unemployment. That is why they promote the idea of quitting the E.U. and securing the U.K. borders to avoid the unwanted wave of migrants. The UKIP leaders say that once the so-called Brexit is successful, anyone migrant will have to get a job permit as anyone else. This will let the British occupy the jobs that are now taken by those migrant laborers. At he same time, employees will have to raise the salaries and wages while local schools and hospitals feel less migrant load. The Brexit supporters have already formed international platforms to promote the idea. Vote Leave is currently one of the most popular platforms out there. Leave EU us another one. By the way they are supported by many British politicians as well as a number of respected media such as Daily Star and Daily Express, The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, and The Times. There is another trump card up their sleeve. They say that after quitting the E.U., The United Kingdom won’t have to pay 13 billion pounds for the E.U. membership. That’s seems to be a huge money saver!
Still, the supporters of the E.U. membership underline the fact that once the U.K. quits the union, the country will lose the unlimited access to the European outlets with 500 million consumers, which accounts for 45% of the British export and f 3 million job. On top of that, they say that if the Brexit does manifest itself, London City will lose its status of Europe’s biggest financial center.
