UK and EU

THURSDAY, JULY 5, 2012

ARTICLE OPTIONS

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British Prime Minister David Cameron recently said that he would consider a referendum on Great Britain’s ties with Europe, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The idea may have pleased some members of the Conservative Party, but surely unsettled his coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.

Mr. Cameron wrote in the Sunday Telegraph newspaper that he wanted Britain to have a “real choice” on the country’s relationship with the European Union, through a referendum or general election. A poll taken earlier this year by YouGov PLC showed that 48 percent of voters who would cast ballots in a referendum would have the country leave the EU while 30 percent favor staying.

Several Conservatives would endorse an exit from the economically challenged union. Indeed Mr. Cameron listed the usual complaints in his op-ed article: the EU is top-heavy with bureaucracy and interferes in national issues too much. The British leader advocated that legislation on social issues, working time and home affairs need to “be scrapped.”

But he made the argument for staying as well: “As a trading nation Britain needs unfettered access to European markets and a say in how the rules of that market are written. The single market is at the heart of the case for staying in the EU. But it also makes sense to cooperate with our neighbors to maximize our influence in the world and project our values of freedom and democracy.”

That does not sound like a leader who seeks to have Britain leave the EU anytime soon. The leader’s musings were judged to be political — to placate members of his party who want Britain to dissolve its EU ties.

At the same time, Mr. Cameron explained why Britain is better off economically staying in the EU.