Britain could be on oath to EU exit(视频)_美文

Britain could be on oath to EU exit(视频)

British Prime Minister David Cameron has begun a process that could lead to Britain's exit from the European Union - a result analysts say could devastate the country's economy.

Britain's economy relies on trade and financial services. The free flow of goods and services with the European continent has been a boon, but more and more Britons see the European Union as an unwelcome infringement on their sovereignty.

That has pushed Prime Minister Cameron to promise a re-negotiation of Britain's ties to the EU and then a referendum within five years, if he is re-elected in the middle of the process.

"We've been very clear about what we want to see changed. There are a whole series of areas, social legislation, employment legislation, environmental legislation, where Europe has gone far too far," he said.

Cameron said he wants to preserve the single market but avoid some of its regulations, an approach that analyst Stephen Tindale, at the Center for European Reform, says won't work.

"His plan is impractical if it works because there would be lots of non-tariff barriers, different regulations, different standards, so products couldn't be as freely traded within Europe as they are at the moment," he said.

That would seem bad for business but, on Thursday, 56 British business leaders endorsed the prime minister's plan, including heads of the London stock exchange and one of the country's major banks. They decried what they called "ever more burdens from Brussels."