InvestmentsMay 24 2013

ECB president pushes for a ‘more European UK’

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European Central Bank (ECB) president Mario Draghi reminded London bankers of the UK’s eurozone dependency, ahead of the planned referendum on EU membership in 2017.

Mr Draghi said that “Europe needs a more European UK as much as the UK needs a more British Europe,” stressing the “depth of the interconnection” between Britain and the euro area.

He noted that the eurozone was the UK’s biggest export market and that 40 per cent of loans made by banks in the region to non-eurozone members went to British borrowers.

“....the UK and the euro area share a common interest: stability in the functioning of our economic system and particularly of our financial markets,” the ECB president told listeners at the event held by the City of London corporation.

His comments come as the UK faces political division over a planned referendum on EU membership in 2017, with prime minister David Cameron insisting on Wednesday that he would not alter the date of the decision.