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British EU exit would be 'historic mistake': Barroso

20 October 2014, 16:32 CET
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British EU exit would be 'historic mistake': Barroso

Jose Manuel Barroso - Photo EC

(LONDON) - European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso argued Monday that Britain is better off in the EU and warned that alienating its allies would be a "historic mistake".

The outgoing head of the 28-member bloc's executive body said that Britain could be "facing a choice -- to stay or leave the European Union", during a speech at London think-tank Chatham House.

"Could the UK get by without a little help from your friends? My answer is probably not," he said, as pressure mounts on the British government from eurosceptics before next year's general election.

In his latest effort to keep Britain onside, Barroso, who leaves office next month after 10 years, also warned that it risked cutting itself off from countries such as Poland, from where thousands of migrants arrive in Britain looking for work each year.

"It would be an historic mistake if on these issues Britain were to continue to alienate its natural allies in central and eastern Europe, when you were one of the strongest advocates for their accession," he added.

Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership and hold an in-out referendum if he is re-elected next year.

Squeezed by the momentum of the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP), whose first elected lawmaker was sworn in last week, Cameron has promised to have "one last go" at securing new checks on EU migrants.

While this threatens tension with EU partners, Cameron is reportedly considering measures such as an "emergency brake" on immigration and a cap on the number of national insurance numbers -- personal identifying codes needed to work in Britain -- issued to EU migrants.

- British people are 'boss' -

The British prime minister hit back at Barroso's comments Monday, saying that his "boss" was the British people and he would respond to their concerns on immigration.

"What we need in Britain is a renegotiation of our relationship with the European Union and then a referendum where the British people decide 'do we stay in this reformed organisation or do we leave it?'," he said during a visit to a Ford car factory east of London.

"I'm very clear about who the boss is, about who I answer to and it's the British people -- they want this issue fixed, they are not being unreasonable about it, and I will fix it."

Cameron's official spokesman said Monday that the prime minister would set out his plans for reforming the rules on migration "in due course", without giving further details.

Migration from other countries in the EU, particularly from newer and poorer member states in eastern Europe, is a highly sensitive political issue in Britain and UKIP has pushed it further up the political agenda.

The party won its first elected seat in parliament in a by-election earlier this month when Douglas Carswell, who had defected from Cameron's centre-right Conservatives, swept to victory.

UKIP hopes to win a second seat in a November by-election following the defection of another Conservative MP to the once-fringe party which is now third in opinion polls, with percentage point support in the high teens.

Britain holds a general election in May next year, with the Conservative party currently running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the main opposition Labour party.


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