German foreign minister warns UK voters over Brexit
Germany's foreign minister has warned that a British vote to leave the European Union (EU) would create a “negative dynamic” in the remainder of the bloc.
“I would like Britain to remain in the EU. I think there are good reasons for Britain to remain in the EU,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday.
But Steinmeier said that it was ultimately up to British voters to decide.
“I am only sure that if Britain decides to leave, that will initiate a negative dynamic in the rest of the EU,” he told the foreign press association in Berlin.
“We can't have any influence on that and we shouldn't have any influence with fantasy proposals about the future of the European Union and 'what would happen if', and in particular 'what would happen if Britain leaves,” he said.
The UK will hold a referendum on June 23 on whether the country should remain a member of the union.
A British exit from the EU, or Brexit, was not formally on the agenda at last week’s G7 summit in Japan, but British Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the issue with several world leaders.
Membership of the European Union has been a controversial issue in the UK since the country joined the then European Economic Community in 1973.
Those in favor of a British withdrawal from the EU argue that outside the bloc, London would be better positioned to conduct its own trade negotiations, better able to control immigration and free from what they believe to be excessive EU regulations and bureaucracy.
Those in favor of remaining in the bloc argue that leaving it would risk the UK's prosperity, diminish its influence over world affairs, and result in trade barriers between the UK and the EU.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently said that there were no economic benefits for the UK to leave the EU, while the Bank of England has warned that the country’s economy would slow sharply, and possibly even enter a short recession.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development has also warned that British voters risk paying a “Brexit tax” equivalent to a month's salary by 2020 if they leave the EU.
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