UK Should Quit EU Says Former French Prime Minister

Britain is “killing” the European Union and should leave, according to a former Prime Minister of France. Michel Rocard, a Socialist who served under President François Mitterand, blamed Britain for all the EU’s problems and said that it is only still in the European Union thanks to its political class.

In an interview with French parliamentary magazine Trombinoscope, translated by the Telegraph, Mr Rocard said: “Britain is a great country that has always refused to allow Europe to interfere in its affairs. It has blocked any further integration.”

Speaking of the benefits of a UK exit, Mr Rocard said that Europe would be able to continue integrating and “developing” further, and that Germany would also like to see the UK leave.

“If they go, it becomes possible to respond to the needs of governing in Europe. Even Germany realises this and demands it. I hope for it a lot because they have prevented it from developing, they killed it.”

Mr Rocard added that it was clear that the “British people want to end with Europe”, and said that the only thing keeping them in was their political and financial classes.

“British elites are afraid of the isolation that would result, that may weaken the City,” said the former French Prime Minister.

France opposes British Prime Minister David Cameron’s calls for a return of powers to national parliaments from Brussels, and reject the idea of removing the pledge of “ever closer union” from EU treaties.

In 2012, Jacques Delors, the former President of the European Commission, also called for Britain should leave the EU, saying that it “could be offered a different form of partnership.”

Speaking to Breitbart London, Rory Broomfield of the Better Off Out Campaign, said: “These comments reaffirm what the people in Britain are increasingly realising: the EU project was not designed for the UK, which has a global perspective compared to other EU member states.

“They also mimic views made by the former President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors. If even former members of the  French political elite get it, why don’t those who are in Whitehall and elsewhere?”