LONDON (Sputnik) — Great Britain will hold an in/out referendum on June 23 to decide on the country's future in the European Union, British Prime Minister David Cameron said Saturday.
"Three years ago I committed to the British people that I would renegotiate our position in the European Union and hold an in/out referendum. Now I'm delivering on that commitment. You will decide, and whatever your decision, I will do my best to deliver it. On Monday, I will commence the process set out under our referendum act and I will go to Parliament and propose that the British people decide our future in Europe through an in/out referendum on Thursday the 23rd of June," Cameron told journalists.
Ahead of the vote, Cameron was seeking to revise the terms of his country's membership of the bloc centering on four key issues — shifting power away from EU authorities back to the UK national legislature, exempting Britain from the EU "superstate" principle, denouncing the euro as the single official EU currency, and protecting the British economy by keeping eurozone members away from non-eurozone countries’ affairs.
EU leaders met in Brussels on February 18-19 to discuss the United Kingdom’s future in the bloc. On the second day of the summit, an agreement on Britain’s EU reform proposals was reached.
After the Friday agreement, Cameron said he would campaign for Britain staying in the bloc as the new deal guaranteed a special status for the United Kingdom within the European Union and delivered on the reform commitments the prime minister had made.
