MOSCOW (Sputnik) — UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage warned Washington on Friday that it risks losing its key ally in Europe if Britons vote in 2017 to stay in the European Union.
The United Kingdom is due to vote on whether it wants to remain in the 28-nation EU bloc in a referendum two years' time. The White House has been supportive of a "yes" vote, a stance that the anti-EU politician said would push London and Washington apart.
"A British ‘Yes’ vote will lead to a further depending of the EU foreign policy agenda, and restrict our freedom to make up our own minds and to act with traditional allies," he claimed.
Farage cited EU Commission President Jean Claude-Juncker’s proposal to create a joint EU Army as a threat to UK membership of the US-led NATO military bloc and Anglo-American military influence.
He bashed the White House for its inability to see the European Union for what he perceives it to be – a political project that is dividing Europe and is "failing in a spectacular fashion." He lashed out at US President Barack Obama, who he said "is the biggest pro-EU cheerleader that the US has ever produced."
Britain has long been vying to regain some control over its policies from Brussels, most notably on migration and finance. In spring, London submitted to the EU leadership a plan to reform the union. UK Prime Minister David Cameron said Britain should remain in the European Union but only on renegotiated terms.
