UK Foreign Policy Special: Europe

Available for over a year

Beth McLeod explored Britain's relationship with Europe from the Europeans perspective. All the political parties have vastly different approached to European unity. The Conservatives promised to hold an "in-out" referendum on Britain's EU membership by 2017, following a renegotiation. Labour and the Liberal Democrats would only hold a referendum in the event of a further transfer of powers to Brussels. The SNP want to remain in and UKIP want to get out. In Europe, the perception of the UK is that it is "dithering on the sideline." Ulrike Guerot of European Democracy Lab said “The Brits have been desperately trying to be half-pregnant with the European Union for 40 years” But as the political parties play the hokey kokey over our membership of the EU, what impact is the debate having on how our European partners see us?