London mayor criticises Obama on EU

(22 Apr 2016) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY

UK POOL - AP CLIENTS ONLY
London - 22 April 2016
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Boris Johnson, Mayor of London:
"It is a fact that America guards its sovereignty with such hysterical jealousy that American diplomats in this city still refuse to pay the congestion charge and - owe Londoners, more than 9 million pounds - which could be spent on transport improvements, and again, it is paradoxical, inconsistent, incoherent, that we are being urged every week to send 350 million pounds of our tax payers' money to Brussels.
(Reporter's question: But with president Obama's intervention, other world leaders, other international organisations, businesses, you're stating to look very isolated, very lonely in this debate.)
"I don't think that's true at all, John Howard's the former Australian prime-minister has had the bravery of come out and speak, I think what you've got is a situation in which the government is ringing around every other friendly country and indeed most countries are in theory friendly, and they're saying - look, we're in a bit of a spot, can you say something positive about our membership of the European Union?"
(Reporter's question: do you think president Obama has been leaned on by David Cameron?)
"Well, in the American case, I think that there's been a long standing American policy to, as the president said this morning in his piece in the Daily Telegraph, America sees it very much as a question of tidying the European continent after the horrors of the Second World War, the need to ensure the peace is maintained and I would take issue with the president's argument there because I think the difficulty is the European Union is now causing such stresses and strains that actually remaining in is the insecure option, the euro is causing riots in some parts of the EU, massive unemployment, massive youth unemployment, we've got a huge emigration crisis and I think it's time for a different approach and that's why I think again, taking back control of our borders, taking back control of our money is the right way forward."
STORYLINE:
London Mayor Boris Johnson reacted on Friday to US President Barak Obama's article in the British newspaper the Daily Telegraph in which he called for the UK to stay in the European Union.
Johnson said the US guarded its sovereignty "with such hysterical jealousy that American diplomats still refuse to pay the congestion charge," referring to the traffic tax Londoners have to pay to access the capital's centre.
Johnson insisted that it was "paradoxical, inconsistent and incoherent" for Britain to have to pay 350 million pounds of taxpayers to the European Union.
In an op-ed published in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, Obama wrote that Britain's presence in the EU "magnifies" Britain's influence and helps spread "British values".
In the piece published on Thursday evening as he arrived in London, Obama wrote that he was offering his view "with the candour of a friend", while noting that the decision would affect US interests.
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