Cameron and Osborne promise to defend UK interests in Europe
PRIME Minister David Cameron yesterday vowed to protect the UK’s interests in Europe, while both he and his chancellor George Osborne ruled out playing any part in a Eurozone banking union.
“I can understand why Eurozone countries may want to look at elements of banking union,” Cameron said at a conference in Berlin. “[But] because we are not in the single currency, we won’t take part … I wouldn’t ask British taxpayers to stand behind the Greek or Spanish deposits.”
The European Central Bank are pushing hard for the Eurozone, and potentially the wider European Union area, to set up a three-pillared banking union consisting of central monitoring of banks, a fund to wind up big lenders and a pan-European deposit guarantee.
Earlier in the day Osborne had said there was “no way” that the UK would partake in the scheme. “I think Britain will require certain safeguards if there is a full-blown banking union,” he said.
And Cameron added that he would protect UK interests, “particularly the openness and fairness of the single market”.