State Dept. Official Suggests Britain Keep European Union Ties Strong

The comments, made in London by Philip Gordon, the assistant secretary of state for Europe, echo sentiments expressed by a number of European officials. But they are likely to have a bigger impact in Britain because of the closeness of its ties to Washington, a point of pride in London.

The timing of the rare public intervention is also significant, coming shortly before a long-awaited speech by Prime Minister David Cameron in which he intends to lay out plans for a redefinition of Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

Mr. Gordon’s remarks, in which he stressed the importance of Britain’s role in the bloc, add Washington’s voice to growing alarm in European capitals and in Brussels, the headquarters of the union’s bureaucratic apparatus, over the possibility that Britain will distance itself from the union.

Speaking at a news conference in Dublin on Wednesday, Enda Kenny, the prime minister of Ireland, which took over the union’s rotating presidency this month, said it would be “disastrous for a country like Britain to leave the union.” He pleaded with London to stay fully engaged with the bloc.

Mr. Cameron, whose Conservative Party faces a growing electoral challenge from a stridently anti-European Union group, the U.K. Independence Party, has said he wants Britain to stay in the union but to negotiate a looser relationship. He has indicated that he will seek the approval of British voters for such an arrangement. In Mr. Cameron’s speech, expected before the end of the month, he may specifically promise a referendum.

In London, Mr. Gordon indicated that any British withdrawal from the union would be unwelcome and said that referendums held by other nations on European Union agreements “have sometimes turned countries inward.”

“We have a growing relationship with the E.U. as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that E.U.,” he told British reporters, according to a transcript released by the United States Embassy in London. “That is in the American interest. We welcome an outward-looking E.U. with Britain in it.” He added: “Britain is such a special partner of the United States — that shares our values, shares our interests, has significant resources to bring to the table. More than most others, its voice within the European Union is essential and critical for the United States.”

Britain joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the union, 40 years ago this month. But the ideals of European unity have never been embraced by a majority of Britons, and the country tends to see its membership in more pragmatic terms than most continental nations do. Britain has “opted out” of several of the union’s major integration initiatives, most notably the single euro currency, and the debt crisis in the euro zone has tended to sharpen public hostility to the union in Britain.

Responding by e-mail to Mr. Gordon’s comments, the British Foreign Office said that “the prime minister has been clear that he wants Britain to be at the heart of a reformed E.U. and that our approach is determined absolutely by the national interest.”

“We think there need to be changes in the E.U. to better meet the interests of all member states,” the Foreign Office statement added. “And we believe that the current debate about the changes the euro zone countries require to protect their national interests provides the opportunity for the U.K. to ask for changes too.”

The idea of Britain’s quitting the bloc, once almost inconceivable, has gained ground in recent months, to the alarm of some business leaders, who have spoken in favor of continued membership. These include Roger Carr, president of the Confederation of British Industry, the country’s most prominent business lobby.

It has also stirred deep unease in Ireland, which has developed close ties with Britain after years of mutual suspicion and is aghast at Mr. Cameron’s policy toward Europe. The two countries have developed starkly different views on the merits of European integration. While Dublin credits the union with playing a key role in Ireland’s economic and social development and in its weathering of a banking crisis in 2008, London tends to view the bloc’s bureaucracy as meddlesome and an affront to national sovereignty.

Mr. Kenny, the Irish leader, said it was highly unlikely that the European Union would agree to rewrite treaty terms to allow for what Mr. Cameron called a “new settlement,” an arrangement that would let Britain retain access to the single market but exempt it from rules it did not like.

Revising treaty terms to suit Britain, Mr. Kenny said, would only “open the floodgates” to demands from other member states and undermine the union’s foundations.

Stephen Castle reported from London, and Andrew Higgins from Dublin.

Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/world/europe/state-dept-official-suggests-britain-keep-european-union-ties-strong.html?partner=rss&emc=rss