Chancellor George Osborne has raised the prospect of Britain leaving the European Union if the 28-nation bloc fails to undertake fundamental reforms to improve competitiveness, create jobs and protect the rights of countries which are not in the single currency. And he suggested that if the UK was unable to secure support for reform from all EU states, it was ready to press ahead with a smaller group of like-minded countries under what he termed ''enhanced co-operation''. In a keynote speech, the Chancellor said that the treaties underpinning the EU were no longer ''fit for purpose'' and failure to reform will condemn the continent to a future of economic crisis and decline, warning: ''We can't go on like this.'' Mr Osborne stressed the Government's determination to renegotiate the terms of British membership in order that the UK can remain in the EU following a referendum in 2017.
He said that growing integration of the eurozone had posed threats to the position of Britain's financial services industry and the City of London and said it was ''absolutely necessary'' to introduce proper legal protection of the rights of EU states which are not in the Eurozone....The financial crisis of 2008 had dramatically exposed the underlying weakness of the European economy, he also said. ''We knew there was a competitiveness problem in Europe before the crisis. But the crisis has dramatically accelerated the shifts in the tectonic economic plates that see power moving eastwards and southwards on our planet,'' said the Chancellor.
''Over the last six years, the European economy has stalled. In the same period, the Indian economy has grown by a third. The Chinese economy by 50%. Over the next 15 years Europe's share of global output is forecast to halve.
''Make no mistake, our continent is falling behind. Look at innovation, where Europe's share of world patent applications nearly halved in the last decade. Look at unemployment, where a quarter of young people looking for work can't find it. Look at welfare.
''As (German chancellor) Angela Merkel has pointed out, Europe accounts for just over 7% of the world's population, 25% of its economy, and 50% global social welfare spending.''
''Make no mistake, our continent is falling behind. Look at innovation, where Europe's share of world patent applications nearly halved in the last decade. Look at unemployment, where a quarter of young people looking for work can't find it. Look at welfare.
''As (German chancellor) Angela Merkel has pointed out, Europe accounts for just over 7% of the world's population, 25% of its economy, and 50% global social welfare spending.''
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The heat intensified on the two most powerful banks in foreign exchange Wednesday as it emerged that U.S. regulatory officials were on a "fact-finding" tour of Citigroup Inc.'s London office and that Deutsche Bank AG had suspended several traders as part of a sprawling investigation into practices by currencies traders.
The officials from the New York Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been at Citigroup's office for a "couple of days," a person familiar with the matter said,...
The heat intensified on the two most powerful banks in foreign exchange Wednesday as it emerged that U.S. regulatory officials were on a "fact-finding" tour of Citigroup Inc.'s London office and that Deutsche Bank AG had suspended several traders as part of a sprawling investigation into practices by currencies traders.
The officials from the New York Federal Reserve and the Securities and Exchange Commission have been at Citigroup's office for a "couple of days," a person familiar with the matter said,...
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