Post by mangomoney on Apr 25, 2016 10:46:26 GMT 7
Brexit brief
The ins and the outs
Britain has the best of both worlds
Apr 23rd 2016 | BRUSSELS | From the print edition
IT HAS been a busy week for Britain’s Treasury. On April 18th its study of the costs and benefits of European Union membership concluded that Brexit could reduce GDP after 15 years by as much as 6.2%. George Osborne, the chancellor, called Brexiteers who claimed there would be no costs in leaving “economically illiterate”. Yet his bigger concern over Britain and the EU is not economic: it is whether the euro zone might unfairly discriminate against non-euro countries like Britain.
Mr Osborne put this issue at the heart of the government’s effort to renegotiate its EU membership. Since November 2014 the 19-member euro zone has in itself constituted a “qualified majority” that can, in theory, take decisions without consulting the nine non-euro countries. Before then, in January 2014, Mr Osborne warned that, if non-euro countries felt their interests were not protected, they would “have to choose between joining the euro, which the UK will not do, or leaving the EU”.
more...
www.economist.com/news/britain/21697253-britain-has-best-both-worlds-ins-and-outs
The ins and the outs
Britain has the best of both worlds
Apr 23rd 2016 | BRUSSELS | From the print edition
IT HAS been a busy week for Britain’s Treasury. On April 18th its study of the costs and benefits of European Union membership concluded that Brexit could reduce GDP after 15 years by as much as 6.2%. George Osborne, the chancellor, called Brexiteers who claimed there would be no costs in leaving “economically illiterate”. Yet his bigger concern over Britain and the EU is not economic: it is whether the euro zone might unfairly discriminate against non-euro countries like Britain.
Mr Osborne put this issue at the heart of the government’s effort to renegotiate its EU membership. Since November 2014 the 19-member euro zone has in itself constituted a “qualified majority” that can, in theory, take decisions without consulting the nine non-euro countries. Before then, in January 2014, Mr Osborne warned that, if non-euro countries felt their interests were not protected, they would “have to choose between joining the euro, which the UK will not do, or leaving the EU”.
more...
www.economist.com/news/britain/21697253-britain-has-best-both-worlds-ins-and-outs
