The US has issued a blunt warning to the UK not to leave the European Union, saying Britain would undermine its influence in Washington by trying to renegotiate membership.
The forthright American intervention in the European debate, from a senior US official, came on a day David Cameron's campaign to reset the terms of Britain's EU membership also came under concerted assault from Brussels and Dublin, with senior figures warning the prime minister against renegotiating the European treaties to secure a new deal and signalling bluntly that this was not on the agenda.
"We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU," Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary of state for Europe, said on a visit to London "That is in America's interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it."
Gordon stressed that it was up to the UK define its own interests, but in what appeared a clear reference to the government's proposal to renegotiate membership and repatriate some powers from Brussels, he stressed that an inward-looking EU, preoccupied with its own internal procedures would be seen as a lesser ally by Washington.
"Every hour at a summit spent debating the institutional make-up of the European Union is one hour less spent on how to deal with the common issues of jobs, growth and international peace around the world," he said, in remarks first reported by the Financial Times. » | Julian Borger and Ian Traynor | Wednesday, January 09, 2013
