MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov – On Thursday, US President Barack Obama urged Britain to remain an EU member, warning that the country would lose some of its influence if it chose to leave the bloc.
"It has always been US policy to have centralization in Europe with a system of one European government over the many member states and Britain to be a part of it… to make sure that the European Union is friendly towards American interests," Robert Oulds, director of the Bruges Group, said.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum on Britain’s exit from the union before 2017. The UK leader maintains that London should be part of the 28-member bloc, albeit on renegotiated terms.
Before the anticipated vote, Cameron intends to revise UK relations with the bloc, pushing Brussels to grant greater powers to member-state governments, including more control over migration policy.
The leader of the eurosceptic UK Independence Party that had lobbied for the referendum, Nigel Farage, argued earlier on Friday that London’s EU membership diminishes the country's global reputation.
