"The United States sees how your powerful voice in Europe ensures
that Europe takes a strong stance in the world, and keeps the EU open,
outward looking, and closely linked to its allies on the other side of
the Atlantic".
Obama calls on British people not to vote to leave the EU
U.S. President Barack Obama made an impassioned appeal on Friday for Britain to remain in the European Union, saying membership had magnified Britain's place in the world and made the bloc stronger and more outward looking.
Fearful that a British
exit could weaken the West, Obama arrived in London to applaud
Britain's EU membership which he said had helped make the world freer,
richer and better able to tackle everything from Russian aggression to terrorism.
Praising
Britain's "outsized" influence in the world, Obama invoked the
interlinked history of the two countries and the tens of thousands of
Americans lying in European war graves as his reason for speaking as "a
friend" on the June 23 referendum.
"The European Union doesn't moderate British influence - it magnifies it," he wrote in an article placed on page 20 of the eurosceptic Daily Telegraph newspaper under the headline "As your friend, I tell you that the EU makes Britain even greater."
"The
United States sees how your powerful voice in Europe ensures that
Europe takes a strong stance in the world, and keeps the EU open,
outward looking, and closely linked to its allies on the other side of
the Atlantic".
Obama is due to meet U.S.
embassy personnel and families before a lunch at Windsor Castle with
Queen Elizabeth, who celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday, and her
husband Prince Philip.
Obama is scheduled to hold talks afterward with Prime Minister David Cameron, followed by a news conference.
Campaigners
for Britain's EU membership, including Cameron, who is leading the "In"
campaign, will welcome Obama's intervention, which led news broadcasts
on British television.
But the president's comments drew scorn from opponents of Britain's EU membership.
New
York-born London Mayor Boris Johnson, who heads the "Out" campaign,
said that he did not want to be lectured by Americans about EU
membership and that the United States would never countenance such a
transfer of sovereignty.
"For the United
States to tell us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of
our democracy -- it is a breathtaking example of the principle of
do-as-I-say-but-not-as-I-do," Johnson wrote in the Sun newspaper.
"It is incoherent. It is inconsistent, and yes it is downright hypocritical," Johnson said.
Opinion
polls indicate that British voters are leaning towards the "In" camp
but many remain undecided. "In" campaigners are concerned that young
voters may not turn out to vote.
"STICK TOGETHER"
The
U.S. government, and many U.S. banks and companies, fear a Brexit would
cause market turmoil, diminish the clout of its strongest European
ally, hurt London's global financial hub status, cripple the EU and
weaken Western security.
"Now is a time for friends and allies to stick together," Obama said. "Together,
the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union have
turned centuries of war in Europe into decades of peace, and worked as
one to make this world a safer, better place."
Cameron
has said that this is no time for Britain to drop out of the club it
joined in 1973, especially in the face of what he terms Russian
President Vladimir Putin's aggression.
Asked about Obama's views, Cameron previously told the parliament, "Personally
I believe we should listen to advice from friends and other countries
and I struggle to find the leader of any friendly country who thinks we
should leave."
Ahead of a 2014 Scottish vote on independence, Obama said he hoped Britain "remains strong, robust and united", a comment that was welcomed by unionist politicians in London.
For
Britain's closest ally, EU membership amplifies British influence,
facilitates trade for U.S. companies and strengthens the 28-member bloc
that Washington views as a pillar of stability in the post-World War Two
era.
Opponents of the EU, many of whom laud the
U.S. alliance, have said that membership has shackled Britain to the
corpse of a failed German-dominated experiment in European integration,
and that Britain, if freed, could prosper as a sole trader.
Nigel
Farage, a prominent opponent of membership as leader of Britain's UK
Independence Party, called Obama the most anti-British American
president to date.
"This is an unwelcome interference ... Mercifully, he won't be in office for much longer."
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