Daily Times : Bringing the UK to Europe’s core —by Mark Eyskens

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Bringing the UK to Europe’s core —by Mark Eyskens

While General de Gaulle once spoke of a Europe stretching from the Atlantic to the Urals, defining Europe in purely geographical terms omits other criteria — including the European social model and the scale of values on which it is based — of what it means to “belong” to Europe. British EMU membership remains very desirable. If the EU is to progress beyond the limits of a common economic and monetary policy and develop a defence and security policy along with a common foreign policy, the UK must be on board. Exchange-rate fluctuations between sterling and the euro disturb market forces among member states, and at times even have a negative impact in London. In the long run, the UK risks serious isolation if the euro zone starts to exert even greater power.But other European countries must also understand British arguments in favour of the UK maintaining its own currency, given London’s importance as an international financial centre as well as its privileged relations with more than 50 Commonwealth countries.

The euro zone should therefore offer the UK an honourable compromise in which Britain would be allowed to become a full member of the EMU and take a seat in all of its institutions like the European Central Bank and the ministerial Eurogroup, while also being able to keep the pound in its relations with third countries.The euro would, however, have to be accepted as legal tender in the UK, alongside the pound, and in the commonwealth countries, and this would demand close cooperation between the Bank of England and the ECB.