Press

As the Centre for European Reform, a London-based think-tank, notes in a new report, a British departure would leave the EU “less liberal, more suspicious of science and more protectionist”.

Here for the pro-EU Centre for European Reform, Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska drills deeper into the questions that surround Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the clause that most likely would have to be used to negotiate the UK's departure.

Agata Gostynska-Jakubowska of the pro-EU Centre for European Reform says delaying for too long also "might be unacceptable for the EU partners," further eroding goodwill. The UK, by extending the agony, would be an unwanted participant in EU meetings. Meanwhile at home, the political pressure would mount from victorious Leave advocates to unshackle from the EU.

Hvad er det for en mellemting?
Hos Centre for European Reform (CER) i London kan vicedirektør Simon Tilford se mindst to afgørende grunde til, at Kristian Thulesen Dahls analyse efter hans mening er forkert.
»For det første kan hverken Frankrigs præsident eller Tysklands forbundskansler holde til at give Storbritannien et totalt tag-selv-bord, hvis det bliver et nej. De føler, at de allerede har givet David Cameron store indrømmelser. Hvis de gik endnu videre, ville det få EU til at falde helt fra hinanden«, siger han.

"In this debate, those of us who are supporting remaining in Europe have first of all got to be positive,” Mr Brown told a meeting of 100 leading economists held by the Centre for European Reform. "We have got to put forward the positive arguments." he said. He added: "People’s concerns are not just economic and financial but they relate to security and how safe they feel, and they relate to what kind of country we are becoming, our cultures, our traditions and what is happening on our borders."

The Centre for European Reform points out that most EU states buy more from Britain than they sell to it and that while the EU buys half the UK’s exports, Britain buys a little over 10 per cent of exports from the rest of the EU.

"Obama is not an instinctive pro-European," said Ian Bond of the London-based Centre for European Reform think-tank. "He opposes Brexit because it risks creating more problems for America in Europe." Polls put the pro-EU and Brexit camps neck-and-neck among those who express a preference to vote, although there is a large pool of people who remain undecided. Obama's "focus is on how Brexit would affect Europe's ability to help America tackle international problems," said Bond.