It is fairly certain that Shakespeare’s Romeo was not thinking of Britain’s wished for changes in her relationship with the European Union, but the fact remains that the UK is saying very little about what it wants to change before a planned “in/out” referendum to be held before the end of 2017. Rather like the nebulous promise of “change you can believe in” that won the White House for President Obama in 2008, the discourse about how Britain wishes to renegotiate its relationship with the EU is long on rhetoric and short on detail. The subliminal message of the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, is that he will address the concerns of the British public over the EU with his EU opposite numbers and adjust the relationship such that the UK endorses continued membership of the 28 member bloc. It is no secret that the majority of political parties and British industry supports the idea of continued membership.
A meeting was held between the EC President Jean-Claude Juncker and David Cameron at Chequers. After the meeting, it was reported by a spokesman for Mr Cameron that Mr Juncker "reiterated that he wanted to find a fair deal for the UK" (whatever that may mean). The spokesman went on to say that: "The prime minister underlined that the British people are not happy with the status quo and believe that the EU needs to change in order to better address their concerns. Mr Juncker reiterated that he wanted to find a fair deal for the UK and would seek to help. They talked through the issue at some length in the spirit of finding solutions to these problems. They agreed that more discussion would be needed, including with other leaders, on the best way forward."
According to the aide, the talks focused on "reforming the EU and renegotiating the UK's relationship with it”. At this stage, no details of the substance of the meeting have emerged.
Over last weekend, an email emerged in which the Bank of England is clearly looking at contingency plans for a UK withdrawal from the EU following the referendum. Whilst this may initially be seen as shocking, prejudging the outcome of a referendum before negotiation and debate have even started, the Bank is simply being prudent: the trouble with democracy is that the people may actually decide to take a course of action that their representatives are heavily opposed to.
In a further development, Nicola Sturgeon, leader of the SNP and a sizeable minority of MPs in Westminster, is seeking to get an agreement whereby the UK would only leave the EU if a majority of citizens in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (as countries) voted in favour of exit. She believes that the Scots would be implacably opposed to severing ties with the EU.