A Passage A Day

ลำดับตอนที่ #60 : Combo EU : 'will affect UK whether in or out' , EU has helped UK economy

©
t
b
u
t
t
e
r

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-35739780

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35751919

The UK will be affected by the euro area whether it votes to stay in or leave the EU, according to former Bank of England boss Mervyn King.

Lord King said the eurozone would still be the UK's biggest trade partner, even though the euro had been a "mistake".

Leave campaigners argue the UK could strike better deals with faster-growing countries if it were outside the EU.

However, Germany's finance minister warned the world economy would be "poisoned" if the UK departed.

British voters will be asked whether the UK should remain an EU member in a referendum on Thursday 23 June.

'Concern'

Asked if the UK would be badly affected by eurozone troubles after the referendum, Lord King told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show: "That will be true, in or out."

The life peer was governor of the UK's central bank during the financial crisis and stepped down in 2013.

He said the euro project had been a "mistake" and that Germany, one of the driving forces behind the single currency, could be better off leaving.

The "economic arithmetic" does not add up for the euro, but Germany and other EU leaders are supporting it for political reasons, he said.

"That is why in the longer run the euro area, not the EU but the euro area, is something that we should all be concerned about," he said.

Lord King would not comment on whether he was in favour of the UK leaving the European Union.

The UK sold £200.4bn of exports to eurozone countries in 2014, which was 39% of all the goods and services it sold abroad that year, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Of the EU's 28 countries, 19 use the euro.

'Poison'

Campaigners on both sides of the EU referendum are focusing on how the vote will affect British trade.

Speaking on the same show, London Mayor Boris Johnson said the "riskier option" was to stay inside the EU because its focus was on preserving the eurozone.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble conceded that the UK could negotiate a new trade deal to stay inside the single market - a free trade zone across all 28 EU countries - without being a member of the EU.

However, he said, a UK decision to leave would cause "years of the most difficult negotiations".

"For years we would have such insecurity it would be a poison to the economy in the UK, the European continent and the global economy as well," Mr Schaeuble said on the show.

strike  (v.)

to ​refuse to ​continue ​working because of an ​argumentwith an ​employer about ​working ​conditions, ​pay ​levels, or ​job ​losses:

to ​cause a ​person or ​place to ​suffer ​severely from the ​effects of something very ​unpleasant that ​happens ​suddenly

to ​hit or ​attack someone or something ​forcefully or ​violently:

arithmetic (n.)

the ​part of ​mathematics that ​involves the ​adding and ​multiplying, etc. of ​numbers ​calculations ​involving ​adding and ​multiplying, etc. ​numbers:

 referendum (n.)

a ​vote in which all the ​people in a ​country or an ​area are ​asked to give ​their ​opinion about or ​decide an ​important​political or ​social ​question:

preserve (v.)

to ​keep something as it is, ​especially in ​order to ​prevent it from ​decaying or being ​damaged or ​destroyed:

to ​treat ​food in a ​particular way so that it can be ​kept for a ​long ​time without going ​bad:

(n.)

 a ​food made from ​fruit or ​vegetables ​boiled with ​sugar and ​water until it ​becomes a ​firm ​sauce:

an ​activity that only one ​person or a ​particular ​type of ​person does or is ​responsible for:

concede (v.)

 to ​admit, often ​unwillingly, that something is ​true:

to ​admit that you have ​lost in a ​competition:

to ​allow someone to have something, ​even if you do not ​want to:

The governor of the Bank of England has said that Britain's membership of the EU has re-inforced the "dynamism of the UK economy".

In a pre-hearing letter to the Treasury Committee, Mark Carney said that the relationship had helped the UK to grow.

In a sometimes fractious exchange with MPs on the committee, Mr Carney denied claims he was "pro-EU".

Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused him of making "pro-EU" comments "beneath the dignity of the Bank".

Mr Carney emphasised that the Bank was not taking sides in the EU referendum.

"We will not be making, and nothing we say should be interpreted as making, any recommendation with respect to that decision," he said.

Mr Carney appeared in front of the cross-party Treasury Committee to discuss the economic and financial costs and benefits of the UK's EU membership, ahead of the referendum on 23 June.

Referring to a Bank of England report on the EU, Mr Carney concluded that EU membership had "likely increased the dynamism of the UK economy and correspondingly its ability to grow without generating risks to the Bank's primary objectives of monetary and financial stability".

However, Mr Rees-Mogg said this could be attributed to reforms made under Margaret Thatcher.

"It is speculative and beneath the dignity of the Bank of England to be making speculative, pro-EU comments," Mr Rees-Mogg said.

The MP said that he was concerned that the Bank was focused more on the positive aspects of EU membership than the negative, adding that it was guilty of "political partisanship" over Europe.

Mr Carney rejected Mr Rees-Mogg's statements as "wholly unfounded" and said: "With respect, what concerns me is your selective memory."

Exit after-effects

Mr Carney said an exit was the biggest domestic risk to financial stability.

If Britain votes to leave the EU, Mr Carney said the Bank "will do everything in our power to discharge our responsibility to achieve monetary stability and financial stability".

He said that there were measures that the Bank of England could take in the short term to support the financial system but said he could not rule out the possibility that there could be issues with stability.

Commenting on the short-term impact of an EU exit, Mr Carney said: "There could be lower levels of activity because of the degree of uncertainty that could affect investment and household spending. Reasonable expectations during a period of uncertainty.

Mr Carney was also questioned about the financial sector's reaction to an exit.

He said: "One would expect some activity to move, certainly there's a logic to that and there are views that have been expressed publicly and privately by a number of institutions that they would look at it, and I'd say a number of institutions are contingency planning for that possibility."

On Monday, the Bank of England pledged to offer extra funding to the financial market before and after the June vote, in case uncertainty put pressure on the banking system.

fractious (adj.)

easily ​upset or ​annoyed, and often ​complaining:

dignity (n.)

calm, ​serious, and ​controlled ​behaviour that makes ​people​respect you

the ​importance and ​value that a ​person has, that makes other ​people ​respect them or makes them ​respect themselves:

interpreted (v.)

 to ​decide what the ​intended ​meaning of something is:

 to ​change what someone is saying into another ​language:

monetary  (adj.)

relating to the ​money in a ​country:

attributed (n.)

 a ​quality or ​characteristic that someone or something has:

speculative (adj.)

​based on a ​guess and not on ​information

bought or done in ​order to make a ​profit in the ​future:

wholly (adv.)

completely:

unfounded (Adj.)

If a ​claim or ​piece of ​news is unfounded, it is not ​based on ​fact:

 contingency (n.)

 something that might ​possibly ​happen in the ​future, usually ​causing ​problems or making ​further ​arrangements​necessary:

pledge (v.)

 to make a ​serious or ​formal ​promise to give or do something: