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In or Out: a Tragic-Comedy in Camera

Flagging Support (CC BY-SA 2.0) by davekellam

The outcome of the referendum on 23 June on Britain's membership of the EU remains highly uncertain. The tragicomic dimension of the recent discussions held in Brussels did not escape anyone. All efforts had to be undertaken to prevent one member -the UK- from leaving the Club. We witnessed a rather pathetic spectacle! One can be for or against the EU but the treaties cannot be trampled under foot. During these "2 dramatic days" the Heads of State and Government have invested all their energy to fix a problem which is in fact a purely internal matter for the UK. And this to the detriment of more substantive matters such as the refugee crisis or the fight against unemployment. One of the biggest advantages of the EU is of course free trade between member nations and this is good enough to delight the British Conservative governments. It should be pointed out that the UK has always been a strong advocate of the opening of the EU to new members with the aim of making the deepening of the EU virtually impossible. From that perspective with 28 Member States around the table, it is already a great success! That said, how important is the EU to UK trade? In 2014, the UK exported £230 billion of goods and services to other EU Member States, representing 44.8% of total UK exports. Goods and services imports from the EU were worth £289 billion, representing 52.8% of total EU exports. As a result, the UK had a trade deficit of £59 billion with the EU (Fig.House of Commons). For years, many experts in London and Brussels contradict each other on the cost-benefit aspects of British membership to the EU. Obviously, the economic relations are important for both parties. And finally, many EU's leaders highly concerned that a Brexit would set off a chain reaction in Europe prefer to ignore the repeated violations of the treaties by some Member States.

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