Brussels
promises to sit out Brexit debate
The
EU executive doesn’t want to be seen to interfere in domestic UK
politics — which could backfire anyway.
By MAÏA DE LA
BAUME 2/22/16, 3:57 PM CET
The European
Commission will not take part in David Cameron’s campaign to keep
Britain in the EU and will make no effort to influence the British
public ahead of the June referendum on membership of the bloc, a
Commission spokesman said Monday.
The prime minister
has set June 23 as the date for the In/Out referendum, after securing
promises last week that the EU would make several reforms aimed at
making it more palatable to British voters.
Keenly aware that
“Brussels” is often a punching bag for the British press, the
Commission had been keeping a low profile on the whole question of
Brexit, knowing that being too vocal in support of EU policies would
be counterproductive with the U.K. electorate. But Commission
spokesman Margaritis Schinas made it clear Monday there would be no
involvement whatsoever.
“The Commission
will not campaign in the U.K. and will not be part of the campaign,”
said Schinas. “Our role ends here.”
At last week’s EU
summit, the Commission helped broker an agreement among the 28 EU
countries on new terms for Britain’s membership in the bloc.
Supporters of both the In and Out camps have wasted no time in
kicking their campaigns into high gear, while Cameron’s own Tory
party is sharply divided on the issue.
We
do not speculate on anything that may or may not happen after the
23rd of June.
The Commission, as
official guardian of the EU treaties, is tasked with proposing
legislation and promoting European values across the bloc. But
Schinas said this would not include active campaigning in Britain on
the Brexit question.
“We will not close
down our representation in the United Kingdom,” he told reporters
in a briefing. “We have a role in the treaties as proponents of
legislation. All of this will continue. But this is not being part of
the campaign.”
An EU official said
the decision was made to sit out the campaign leading up to the vote
because the Commission didn’t want to interfere in the U.K.’s
domestic policies.
Commission President
Jean-Claude Juncker has been a strong supporter of Britain remaining
in the bloc, but according to Schinas he will not do any public
campaigning on the issue in Britain.
No plan B
Schinas also said
the U.K.’s member of the Commission, Jonathan Hill, was free to
have his own personal opinion on the matter but would not campaign as
part of his official duties.
A Commission task
force set up last year on the U.K. renegotiation, headed by senior
official Jonathan Faull, will remain in place and will be involved in
dealing with technical matters related to the implementation of the
reforms, Schinas said.
He insisted that the
Commission was not currently making any contingency plans for how to
handle a victory by the Out camp on June 23 — a result that would
create political chaos by launching either a frantic effort to
renegotiate the terms again, or a complex and lengthy withdrawal of
Britain from the EU.
The
European Commission is generally not allowed to use its €250
million per year communications budget to influence domestic
political decisions.
“We do not
speculate on anything that may or may not happen after the 23rd of
June,” Schinas said. “We have no plan B, we are not engaged in
this intellectual exercise.”
That echoed comments
made Sunday by Pierre Moscovici, the EU commissioner for economic and
financial affairs, who told French TV program C Politique that any
involvement of the Commission in the referendum campaign could
backfire.
Moscovici also ruled
out any “plan B” if the U.K. decides to leave the European Union.
“The day we start
talking about a plan ‘B’ is the day we no longer believe in our
plan ‘A,'” Moscovici said. “I have just one plan: The United
Kingdom in a united Europe.”
The European
Commission is generally not allowed to use its €250 million per
year communications budget to influence domestic political decisions.
Last year, the
Commission ruled out any campaign or communications effort to
influence Greek voters before they voted in a referendum on whether
Greece would accept or refuse bailout terms imposed on them by the
EU.
At the European
Parliament, neither the institution nor the political groups are
entitled to finance any political campaign.
Hortense Goulard
contributed to this article.
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