Poolse minister: Verenigd Koninkrijk niet langer EU-topland (en)

BRUSSELS - Britain has lost its place in the club of leading EU nations with France and Germany after its decision to hold a referendum on EU membership, the Polish foreign minister has said.

"The Prime Minister [David Cameron] has shifted his country's position in the EU hierarchy. From a country which was a natural member of the triumvirate capable of ruling the EU, Great Britain has moved to the category of a country of special concern, which should be treated with care in case it does something unwise, harms itself and leaves the Union. It means the group which holds power in the Union will have a different shape," Radek Sikorski told Poland's Tok FM radio station on Thursday (24 January).

He said Poland could take Britain's place over the next decade.

"We would have to continue reforms and join the eurozone i, then we could be the ones in the group of three, or five, countries which have the biggest say in the EU," Sikorski added.

His statement is Warsaw's first reaction to Cameron's announcement that he will hold an in/out referendum on the EU by the end of 2017.

The Polish minister - an Anglophile who studied at Oxford University - said Poles "like, respect" the UK and share its free market outlook.

He noted the referendum will not take place if Cameron loses the next election.

He also said Cameron's two conditions for holding the vote - renegotiating the EU treaties and repatriating some EU powers back to the UK - "seem unlikely to happen."

But he added that referendum or no referendum, the British leader wants no part in further EU integration.

"Cameron said very clearly: 'We're not interested in a political union, we want to take care of our own interests and retreat to our island.' But the rest of the continent does want political union, because it's indispensible to save the euro and to protect our place on the world arena," Sikorski said.

"Great Britain can retreat to its island. But it's in our [Poland's] interest to permanently safeguard our membership in the Latin civilisation, so we need tighter ties with the rest of Europe, not looser ones," he added.

Sikorski's remarks are more critical of Cameron than reactions coming out of Germany or Italy in the past few days.

But the French foreign minister, Laurent Fabius, was the most provocative. "If the UK decides to leave the EU, we will roll out the red carpet to businessmen [who leave the UK]," he said on Wednesday.

Cameron's decision has popular backing in the UK despite its many critics.

A poll published in British daily The Times on Thursday said 40 percent of people would vote to quit the EU, while 37 percent would vote to stay.

The British plan is also causing ripples in other EU countries.

A survey published by Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on Friday said 52 percent of Danes want to stay in the EU, but 47 percent of them also want Denmark to renegotiate its EU relations.