wolfstreet.com / by Wolf Richter /
Among the core principles of the EU are the free movement of goods, capital, and people. Member States have benefitted to varying degrees. Britain – or rather the City of London – has benefited more than any other Member State from the free movement of capital. That speck of land within London has become one of the largest and murkiest financial centers in the world.
The institutions located there have been involved in nearly every major financial scandal and market rigging scheme discovered over the last few years. It’s so big that the British economy has become dependent on it. Any measures that other Member States suggest that might in anyway reduce the bonuses, wealth, and power of those involved in the Square Mile has been opposed with religious fervor by successive UK governments. For the UK, the free movement of capital rules.
But the free movement of people?
Prime Minister David Cameron is under pressure at home, particularly from the UK Independence Party (UKIP). He is struggling to come out ahead in the Lower House elections in May. To mollify his detractors, he vowed last month at the Tory Party conference to push the EU to reform its principle of freedom of movement. There was talk that he wants to introduce a quota system to restrict the number of people from Member States who come to live and work in the UK. And this would come even before the “in/out referendum” in 2017 that he is dangling in front of voters if they keep him in power that long.
The post European Harmony? Merkel Hands Cameron an Ultimatum and for First Time Ever Sees Britain’s Exit from the EU appeared first on Silver For The People.
