Finland says without Britain there is no EU

Without Britain, there is no European Union, Finland’s finance minister said on Monday in a boost for his British counterpart George Osborne as he toured Scandinavia to drum up support for London’s push to reform the bloc.

Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative government plans to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s membership of the 28-nation bloc ahead of a national in-out referendum by the end of 2017.

“Our take is very simple, without the United Kingdom there is no European Union … That is why we have to take into consideration the concerns that the British government has put forward,” Finnish Finance Minister Alexander Stubb told reporters after meeting Osborne.

“It would be a travesty to both, for Europe and the UK, were the UK to leave the union.”

Osborne began a trip to Finland, Sweden and Denmark on Monday. Britain’s finance ministry said Osborne would focus on protecting the integrity of the EU’s single market and the rights of non-euro nations as the 19 countries that use the common currency press on with closer economic integration.

Stubb said the Finnish government supported Britain’s calls to boost the EU’s economic competitiveness and the bloc needed to have a debate about the future of the euro zone.

“You cannot leave the biggest economies which are not in the euro zone outside the decision-making procedure,” he said.

Osborne was due to meet Sweden’s Finance Minister Magdalena Andersson before travelling to Denmark later on Monday.

Britain has traditionally seen fellow non-euro zone members Denmark and Sweden as allies within the bloc because they have tended to share its more sceptical approach towards closer European integration.

source:Reuters