EU Should Stop Acting Like 'Imperial Court': Former Bush Assistant

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The European Union must stop acting like "an imperial court," US political and strategic analyst Franklin C. Miller said Thursday.

WASHINGTON, October 23 (RIA Novosti) – The European Union must stop acting like "an imperial court," US political and strategic analyst Franklin C. Miller said Thursday.

"It's... important for the EU to stop acting like the imperial court that it acts like," Franklin C. Miller, former special assistant to President George W. Bush and former member of the National Security Council, said Thursday at a discussion on the impact of the recent Scottish independence referendum on Europe.

"And when the Prime Minister, whether it's Mr. Cameron or Mr. Milliband [Ed Miliband, leader of the UK Labour Party], [tries] to claw back some things into the UK that don't affect the overall workings of the EU but that do affect British life on a daily basis, I think the people in the EU hierarchy need to stop acting as if they are emperors and kings and queens," Miller said, commenting on the negotiations of British Prime Minister David Cameron with the EU leadership in Brussels ahead of a planned 2017 referendum on a potential UK exit from the EU.

Miller noted that the "behemoth in Brussels" is widely perceived as a force that "reaches into all aspects of British life". However, he believes the UK will remain in the EU.

Ahead of the 2015 elections in Great Britain, Cameron is preparing negotiations with EU leaders to increase Britain's autonomy within EU. That includes negotiations on stricter immigration controls, greater abilities for national parliaments to block European legislation, and increased freedom to enter trade agreements outside of the EU framework. If his conditions are not met in Brussels, Cameron has promised UK voters a referendum on EU membership by 2017, if he is reelected.

Public opinion on a referendum on EU membership has declined slightly since the Scottish independence referendum in September failed, but the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party, which made substantial gains in this year's European Parliamentary elections, insists on the necessity of the referendum on UK membership and claims it should be held much earlier than 2017.

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