'India, US want UK to stay in EU to safeguard their interests'

Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of the European Parliament, said Brexit would be a 'seismic shock' for the EU

India and the US want the UK to stay in the EU to "look after their interests", a top European Parliament member has said and underlined that Brexit would be a "seismic shock" for the bloc if it goes through.

"Countries like India and the US, they want us in the EU in order to bring a bit of common sense to the institution and to look after their interests within this European organisation," Geoffrey Van Orden, Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and Britain's Conservative Party leader, said.

With just over a month left for the June 23 referendum on Brexit, Van Orden, however, said he has not yet declared his position but will do so in due course of time.

"I oppose so much of what goes on in this place (European Parliament) and in the European Union. I think a lot of it is detrimental to British interests and indeed in the interest of many of our European countries," Van Orden, the Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with India, told a visiting group of Indian journalists here.

"I would say about an 80 per cent of what goes on here I oppose. So you would think therefore I would naturally be a Brexiter. My heart says leave but there are some serious reasons why one has to hesitate about that. And included among these reasons are...We don't know how easy it would be for us to negotiate new trade arrangements with the bloc that we are leaving behind," the 71-year-old said.

Van Orden said he has no doubt that the UK would be able to negotiate arrangements separately but how long will that take and how much of an economic upset would that be in the meantime are all factors that need to be considered before deciding on Brexit, a term used for the UK's exit from the 28-nation European Union.

"Another very strong consideration particularly for me is that none of our Commonwealth friends and allies including India are saying to us leave the European Union. Indeed many of them are saying please stay for selfish reasons in fact this was indeed (the case) with our great American friends," the Vice-Chair of European Conservatives and Reformists Group in the European Parliament said.

Asked if India and the UK should work on a bilateral trade agreement with the India-EU FTA talks not progressing much, Van Orden said such a step will have to "wait till June 23".

"This is one of the arguments -- how easy would it be for the UK (to negotiate trade pacts)...," he said.

"After all if the UK were to leave the EU, this would be a seismic shock to the EU and it would unlock a whole lot of forces in many other countries and lead to a lot of questioning of the EU relationship in many other places," Van Orden said.