Markets have caught cold, and some markets have even started shivering. Business leaders are warning of dire consequences. Political leaders outside Britain are talking tough and soft to make Britons listen to them. And inside Britain, it is a frenzy and fever of the magnitude never witnessed before. It seems the whole world is riveted on the referendum scheduled for June 23 in Britain that would decide whether the country would remain in the European Union. Brexit, which stands for Britain’s exit from the EU, has become a word that carries as much weight as Britain itself.
Top politicians have taken positions on either side of the referendum debate. Those who support Brexit say it’s a question of reclaiming Britain’s sovereignty and identity, which has been partially surrendered at the doors of EU. Those who oppose Brexit say leaving the EU will be like removing a compartment from a moving a train, thus forcing the compartment to chart its own course. The ‘In’ team has the rock-solid support of the business world, which sees nothing but chaos if UK leaves the EU.
What is interesting is that the early confidence of those who support remaining in the EU is dwindling and giving way to the realisation that the vote could go either way. A series of opinion polls conducted by several respected agencies and media outlets suggest that the Out campaign is gaining significant momentum, driving the rival camp, the financial community and EU leaders into a paroxysm of fear. The Brexit camp received a huge boost after Britain’s most popular tabloid, The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, proclaimed its support for them.
The final outcome is still unpredictable because voters have ample time to change their mind. Britain and the EU will remain the same if the former chooses to remain wedded to the bloc, but an exit would be a cataclysmic event, and give birth to a new EU and UK, with huge repercussions that will reverberate across the world. It will be like the EU losing a vital organ which will weaken it considerably, and make other members reconsider their continuation in the bloc. A wonderful, unprecedented dream of the founders of EU will receive its first lethal jolt.
Britons have every right to decide their future, and any decision they take will be after studying and digging deep into every minutiae. If an exit decision causes the sterling to collapse and the financial market to develop epileptic fits, Britons would still be happy because they have decided that the gains of staying independent outweigh the benefits of dependence.
Markets have caught cold, and some markets have even started shivering. Business leaders are warning of dire consequences. Political leaders outside Britain are talking tough and soft to make Britons listen to them. And inside Britain, it is a frenzy and fever of the magnitude never witnessed before. It seems the whole world is riveted on the referendum scheduled for June 23 in Britain that would decide whether the country would remain in the European Union. Brexit, which stands for Britain’s exit from the EU, has become a word that carries as much weight as Britain itself.
Top politicians have taken positions on either side of the referendum debate. Those who support Brexit say it’s a question of reclaiming Britain’s sovereignty and identity, which has been partially surrendered at the doors of EU. Those who oppose Brexit say leaving the EU will be like removing a compartment from a moving a train, thus forcing the compartment to chart its own course. The ‘In’ team has the rock-solid support of the business world, which sees nothing but chaos if UK leaves the EU.
What is interesting is that the early confidence of those who support remaining in the EU is dwindling and giving way to the realisation that the vote could go either way. A series of opinion polls conducted by several respected agencies and media outlets suggest that the Out campaign is gaining significant momentum, driving the rival camp, the financial community and EU leaders into a paroxysm of fear. The Brexit camp received a huge boost after Britain’s most popular tabloid, The Sun, owned by Rupert Murdoch, proclaimed its support for them.
The final outcome is still unpredictable because voters have ample time to change their mind. Britain and the EU will remain the same if the former chooses to remain wedded to the bloc, but an exit would be a cataclysmic event, and give birth to a new EU and UK, with huge repercussions that will reverberate across the world. It will be like the EU losing a vital organ which will weaken it considerably, and make other members reconsider their continuation in the bloc. A wonderful, unprecedented dream of the founders of EU will receive its first lethal jolt.
Britons have every right to decide their future, and any decision they take will be after studying and digging deep into every minutiae. If an exit decision causes the sterling to collapse and the financial market to develop epileptic fits, Britons would still be happy because they have decided that the gains of staying independent outweigh the benefits of dependence.
