British Prime Minister David Cameron has raised the prospect of a possible referendum on Britain’s future relationship with the EU, potentially threatening trade with the bloc and opening up another front against the Conservatives’ coalition partner.
Britain has had a long and painful history of infighting and changes of heart over how closely to integrate with the EU ever since it joined its precursor four decades ago.
Fears over closer fiscal union in the single currency bloc in response to the eurozone debt crisis has heightened concerns among backbenchers, especially among the eurosceptics on the right of the Conservative Party and the electorate.
Photo: Reuters
Polls suggest that if given a chance, voters would opt out of the EU.
Cameron, writing in the Sunday Telegraph, said he believed the “vast majority of the British people,” like him, wanted to make changes to Britain’s current relationship.
He wrote that for those outside the eurozone, “far from there being too little Europe, there is too much of it” in terms of bureaucracy. The question was how to get the relationship right.
“As we get closer to the end point, we will need to consider how best to get the full-hearted support of the British people whether it is in a general election or in a referendum,” he wrote.
“As I have said, for me the two words ‘Europe’ and ‘referendum’ can go together, particularly if we really are proposing a change in how our country is governed, but let us get the people a real choice first,” he added.
A significant reason for holding back on a referendum is concerns surrounding the economic consequences of an exit from the free-trade bloc, Britain’s biggest export market.
Also, the junior partner in the coalition, the Liberal Democrats, are pro-Europe, and the two parties have already had their differences over key policies.
“Tactical and strategic patience” would need to be shown, the prime minister said.
Commentators suggested Cameron might use a referendum as an election fillip, ahead of the next parliamentary vote in 2015, especially after his party’s popularity took a knock after a budget in March.
The main opposition Labour Party has been debating about whether to hold a referendum around the time of the election.
An added pressure on Cameron has been the anti-EU UK Independence Party, which has grown in influence, doing well in local elections in May on a ticket of total withdrawal from the EU.
In the article, Cameron wrote: “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,” he added.
“I don’t agree with those who say we should leave and therefore want the earliest possible in/out referendum. Leaving would not be in our country’s best interests,” he wrote.
Shares in Taiwan closed at a new high yesterday, the first trading day of the new year, as contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) continued to break records amid an artificial intelligence (AI) boom, dealers said. The TAIEX closed up 386.21 points, or 1.33 percent, at 29,349.81, with turnover totaling NT$648.844 billion (US$20.65 billion). “Judging from a stronger Taiwan dollar against the US dollar, I think foreign institutional investors returned from the holidays and brought funds into the local market,” Concord Securities Co (康和證券) analyst Kerry Huang (黃志祺) said. “Foreign investors just rebuilt their positions with TSMC as their top target,
REVENUE PERFORMANCE: Cloud and network products, and electronic components saw strong increases, while smart consumer electronics and computing products fell Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday posted 26.51 percent quarterly growth in revenue for last quarter to NT$2.6 trillion (US$82.44 billion), the strongest on record for the period and above expectations, but the company forecast a slight revenue dip this quarter due to seasonal factors. On an annual basis, revenue last quarter grew 22.07 percent, the company said. Analysts on average estimated about NT$2.4 trillion increase. Hon Hai, which assembles servers for Nvidia Corp and iPhones for Apple Inc, is expanding its capacity in the US, adding artificial intelligence (AI) server production in Wisconsin and Texas, where it operates established campuses. This
Nvidia Corp chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) on Monday introduced the company’s latest supercomputer platform, featuring six new chips made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), saying that it is now “in full production.” “If Vera Rubin is going to be in time for this year, it must be in production by now, and so, today I can tell you that Vera Rubin is in full production,” Huang said during his keynote speech at CES in Las Vegas. The rollout of six concurrent chips for Vera Rubin — the company’s next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) computing platform — marks a strategic
US President Donald Trump on Friday blocked US photonics firm HieFo Corp’s US$3 million acquisition of assets in New Jersey-based aerospace and defense specialist Emcore Corp, citing national security and China-related concerns. In an order released by the White House, Trump said HieFo was “controlled by a citizen of the People’s Republic of China” and that its 2024 acquisition of Emcore’s businesses led the US president to believe that it might “take action that threatens to impair the national security of the United States.” The order did not name the person or detail Trump’s concerns. “The Transaction is hereby prohibited,”
RSS