Britain will be weaker without EU, says USA

With UK Prime Minister David Cameron saying in December 2012 that Britain out of Europe was now 'imaginable', US agitation has reached a new high.

'It is important to state very clearly that a strong UK in a strong Europe is in America's national interest,' said a senior US administration official. 'We recognise national states but see the EU as a force multiplier.'

Furthermore, the Obama administration publicly expressed concern about the impact of a UK referendum on its future relationship with the EU in January 2013

Philip Gordon, a senior official in the US State Department, said it was in America's interests to see a 'strong British voice within the EU'.

'We have a growing relationship with the EU as an institution, which has an increasing voice in the world, and we want to see a strong British voice in that EU. That is in America's interests. We welcome an outward-looking EU with Britain in it.'

• Primary Source

Daily Telegraph, 18.12.12: Britain will be weaker without EU, says Washington (via PressEurop) http://www.presseurop.eu/en/content/news-brief/3183251-britain-will-be-weaker-without-eu-says-washington

ESO: Background information: Cameron starts work on EU declaration http://www.europeansources.info/record/cameron-starts-work-on-eu-declaration/

BBC News, 09.01.13: UK risks 'turning inwards' over EU referendum - US official http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20961651

BBC News, 10.01.13: Nick Clegg: UK 'valuable' to US partly because of EU http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-20969380

France24, 10.01.13: US voices concern for UK’s EU renegotiation plans http://www.france24.com/en/20130110-us-obama-uk-cameron-europe-renegotiation

---