LONDON // David Cameron, the British prime minister, yesterday pledged to hold a referendum on his country's future in the European Union by the end of 2017.
In a long-awaited speech, he acknowledged that support in Britain for continued membership of the EU appeared to be wafer thin.
He said that while he was not a British isolationist, and wanted a relationship between Britain and the EU "that keeps us in it", the issue needed to be addressed.
"It is time to settle this European question in British politics," Mr Cameron said at the London offices of Bloomberg.
He wants to renegotiate key aspects of Britain's relationship with Europe, including labour, environmental and judiciary legislation.
The result of those negotiations - a "real choice between leaving or being part of a new settlement in which Britain shapes and respects the rules of the single market but is protected by fair safeguards" - was what he promised to take to a popular vote, no later than halfway through the next parliamentary term, if he is still prime minister after next general election in 2015.
But he went further than merely arguing for British exceptionalism. He said he wanted a reformed union with a more "flexible, adaptable and open" relationship between all members.
"Far from unravelling the EU, this will in fact bind its members more closely because such flexible, willing cooperation is a much stronger glue than compulsion from the centre," he said.
Mr Cameron's speech was widely welcomed by members of his Conservative Party, traditionally home to strong Eurosceptic feelings.
Boris Johnson, the London mayor and a potential Conservative leadership rival, said the speech had been "bang on". Lord Norman Lamont, a former Conservative chancellor of the exchequer, commended a performance he said would appeal to a "very large section of the British people who are uneasy about our position in Europe".
But it received a frosty reception overseas. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said she was "prepared to speak about British wishes" but that a compromise had to be found that was fair for all.
Her foreign minister, Guido Westervelle, was more blunt, warning Britain that, "cherry-picking is not an option". That message was echoed by Martin Schulz, the speaker of the European Parliament, who said Mr Cameron's "Europe a la carte" was off the menu.
French politicians went further. Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, said Britain could not join a football club and say, "let's play rugby". "It could be dangerous for the UK," he added. "The UK outside Europe? Difficult."
Mr Cameron has also caused rancour within his own government coalition. His promise to hold a referendum is predicated on still being prime minister after 2015 and he may need to secure an outright majority then to achieve that.
Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister and leader of the Liberal Democrats, with which Mr Cameron's party formed a ruling coalition after the last election, has said his party would not join a coalition with a party that wanted a renegotiation with Europe.
"We should always be governed by what's in the national interest, and my view is that years and years of uncertainty because of a protracted, ill-defined renegotiation of our place in Europe is not in the national interest because it hits growth and jobs," said Mr Clegg.
Ed Miliband, the Labour leader and head of Britain's opposition, said he opposed the referendum.
He also pressed Mr Cameron during parliamentary question time about whether he would still support EU membership should he fail to secure concessions during the negotiations. Mr Cameron would only say that he supported membership of a "reformed EU".
There is little mood in Europe to reform on account of Britain, said Petros Fassoulas, the chairman of European Movement UK, an organisation that calls for closer integration with the EU.
He said commentators had questioned Mr Cameron's wisdom in "putting a gun to the head" of the EU, one which he described as more of a "water pistol". "The kind of renegotiation he is after is not really on the table," he said. "So it is entirely possible that he will come out completely unsuccessful, in effect pointing the country toward the exit as a result."
The UK was "vastly overstating" its renegotiation capacity, said Ulrike Guerot, a senior policy fellow with the European Council on Foreign Relations.
On peripheral issues, she said, the EU might accommodate London.
"But on the very important strategic issues, on the necessity of the euro, on climate, on the big global things - no," she added.
She said, however, a referendum might be the cathartic moment Britain needed to finally have a "serious debate" about its role the EU.
okarmi@thenational.ae
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Brief scores:
Juventus 3
Dybala 6', Bonucci 17', Ronaldo 63'
Frosinone 0
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How green is the expo nursery?
Some 400,000 shrubs and 13,000 trees in the on-site nursery
An additional 450,000 shrubs and 4,000 trees to be delivered in the months leading up to the expo
Ghaf, date palm, acacia arabica, acacia tortilis, vitex or sage, techoma and the salvadora are just some heat tolerant native plants in the nursery
Approximately 340 species of shrubs and trees selected for diverse landscape
The nursery team works exclusively with organic fertilisers and pesticides
All shrubs and trees supplied by Dubai Municipality
Most sourced from farms, nurseries across the country
Plants and trees are re-potted when they arrive at nursery to give them room to grow
Some mature trees are in open areas or planted within the expo site
Green waste is recycled as compost
Treated sewage effluent supplied by Dubai Municipality is used to meet the majority of the nursery’s irrigation needs
Construction workforce peaked at 40,000 workers
About 65,000 people have signed up to volunteer
Main themes of expo is ‘Connecting Minds, Creating the Future’ and three subthemes of opportunity, mobility and sustainability.
Expo 2020 Dubai to open in October 2020 and run for six months
Ain Dubai in numbers
126: The length in metres of the legs supporting the structure
1 football pitch: The length of each permanent spoke is longer than a professional soccer pitch
16 A380 Airbuses: The equivalent weight of the wheel rim.
9,000 tonnes: The amount of steel used to construct the project.
5 tonnes: The weight of each permanent spoke that is holding the wheel rim in place
192: The amount of cable wires used to create the wheel. They measure a distance of 2,4000km in total, the equivalent of the distance between Dubai and Cairo.
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Produced by: Reliance Entertainment with Chalk and Cheese Films
Director: Tushar Hiranandani
Cast: Taapsee Pannu, Bhumi Pednekar, Prakash Jha, Vineet Singh
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
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Lucifer: is a 2019 Malayalam-language action film. It dives into the gritty world of Kerala’s politics and has become one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of all time.
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Company profile
Name: Dukkantek
Started: January 2021
Founders: Sanad Yaghi, Ali Al Sayegh and Shadi Joulani
Based: UAE
Number of employees: 140
Sector: B2B Vertical SaaS(software as a service)
Investment: $5.2 million
Funding stage: Seed round
Investors: Global Founders Capital, Colle Capital Partners, Wamda Capital, Plug and Play, Comma Capital, Nowais Capital, Annex Investments and AMK Investment Office
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Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
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- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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