EU Without UK, Eurozone Without Greece? – OpEd

By Kirill Bezverkhy

Britain’s former Prime Minister Tony Blair has expressed an assumption that his country may withdraw from the EU because of the shifts in the distribution of authorities in the region. Also most of the Brits support the idea of their country withdrawal from the EU.

In fact the UK is already on the verge of withdrawing from the EU. Recent opinion polls show that only 35% of Brits are backing the country’s membership in the EU. Earlier this year, the British parliament proposed to hold a national referendum on the issue but Prime Minister David Cameron managed to postpone the referendum for an indefinite term.

Tony Blair thinks that sooner of later the referendum will be held, especially in the light of the recent political changes within the EU. The former leader of the Laborites is convinced that Brussels’ role in Europe is getting stronger every year which runs counter to democratic principles and national interests of the EU countries, including the UK. But according to Alexandra Lozovaya an expert with the analytical department of the invest company “Vector Securities” it is most likely that Blair’s concerns are groundless:

“Perhaps Tony Blair fears that with tougher budget and tax policy in the eurozone the weaker players of the eurozone will lose their sovereignty. Perhaps he thinks that this trend will gradually spread across the EU but so far nothing points to this conclusion.”

However, according to Sergey Dubinin, chairman of the supervisory board of the VTB bank, Brits are concerned most of all with the fact that Brussels is trying to force its financial policy rules upon London:

“I think that for the United Kingdom it is beneficial to be part of the EU but the British authorities are trying to protect their country’s position as the leading global financial hub. Any interference into this area is very painful for them.”

Officials in the EU have not commented on Tony Blair’s statement. It seems that they have enough problems to think about settling the economic situation in the eurozone. But not everything is going so smoothly. There are new speculations in business circles that the Brussels is preparing Greece’s withdrawal from the eurozone. Greek people do not want to go back to their national currency, but it is possible that nobody will ask the Athens’ opinion on this issue. Recently the former head of the European central bank Otmar Issing made it clear that some countries could be forcefully driven away from the eurozone. Until recently was believed that a country could leave the eurozone only voluntarily. By the way, however strange it may seem, but some experts say that Germany may wish to leave the eurozone. Economically, this most powerful country in Europe can do it pursuing material benefits. Now Germany which is the main creditor of the troubled countries of the euro-zone has to pay the highest price for the crisis. Polls also show that about 40% of Germans are backing the return to the national currency.