Spotlight: Referendum in Britain carries risk of exit from EU

With Brussels' endorsement for "special status" in hand, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced Saturday that his country would hold a referendum on June 23 to decide where to stay or leave the European Union (EU).

Cameron said that his government's position was to recommend that Britain remain in the EU. However, uncertainties remain over whether the British people will vote in favor.

EU AGREEMENT AND UK REFERENDUM

The decision to hold a referendum on Britain's EU membership has to be formalized by the British Parliament, but it is widely expected to be adopted since Cameron's Conservative Party holds the majority.

Cameron said he believed that "Britain will be safer, stronger and better off in a reformed European Union."

The British leader's announcement came after he clinched a deal with other EU country leaders on Friday, which gives a "special status" for Britain in the EU in areas ranging from benefit cuts for migrants to opt-out for closer union.

Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said after the two-day "make-or-break" summit that leaders have achieved a legally binding and irreversible deal to strengthen Britain's "special status" in the EU, adding the settlement has addressed all of Cameron's concerns without compromising fundamental EU values.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also said that the accord was a "fair compromise," adding: "I don't think that we gave too much to Great Britain."

French President Francois Hollande agreed, saying that the deal contained "no exceptions to the rules" of the EU.

London has demanded EU reform in economic governance, competitiveness, sovereignty and social benefits, and free movement, as precondition for keeping the country inside the bloc.

DOMESTIC EUROSKEPTICISM

Cameron told reporters that he had achieved all his main negotiating aims in the deal, saying that Britain has secured recognition that it is not committed to further political integration into the EU, and will "be permanently out of ever-closer union."

Meanwhile, under the deal, Britain can apply a "safeguard mechanism" that will restrict migrant workers' access to social benefits in Britain for four years, gradually raising entitlement over this period.

However, the outcome of the referendum is far from certain as the country had a long tradition of euroskepticism and opinion polls indicated that British voters are evenly divided.

Hours after Friday's agreement, Justice Secretary Michael Gove and five other ministers said they would campaign against him in the referendum. Popular London Mayor Boris Johnson was also among the opponents.

Cameron "didn't want a referendum, he was bounced into doing it,"

said Las Carswell, member of the euroskeptic UK Independence Party. "He's been the actor in this production, he is not writing the script, or directing it, or producing it."

Pat McFadden, Labor's former Europe minister, lashed out at Cameron's poor understanding of the EU, saying "he does not always do his homework on a European level."

If Britain votes in the referendum to leave the EU, pressure would rise for a second independence referendum in Scotland, said Nicola Sturgeon, the leader of the Scottish National Party, on Saturday.

"If we get into the situation, where Scotland votes to stay in, the rest of the UK votes to come out, then people in Scotland will have big questions they will want to look at again about whether Scotland should be independent," said Sturgeon.

Former Scottish leader Alex Salmond also said that if Scots were dragged out against their will by the votes of a much larger English electorate, the pressure for another independence referendum in Scotland would be irresistible.

DIVISIONS REMAIN in EU OVER UK

During the EU negotiations, France and Belgium strongly resisted safeguards for countries that do not use the euro. In an apparent win for them, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said the deal would give Britain no power of veto over the eurozone.

Eastern European countries also complained of "discriminatory" proposals and violation of the principle of freedom of movement, as London sought to curb social benefits of European migrants within Britain, many of whom are from Eastern Europe.

The social benefits issue was "particularly difficult," the office of Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo said Friday after a meeting with Cameron.

French President Hollande said before the deal was hammered out that "no country should ignore the common rules we have established. The UK shall stay in the EU but in respect of the fundamental rules and spirit of the EU."

Anand Menon, professor of European politics at King's College London, said the referendum is going to be a "depressingly negative campaign."

Jeffrey Archer, a former British conservative lawmaker, said: "The European issue has split it from top to bottom, ever since we went in." Endi