The chairman of Anglo-Dutch group Unilever has urged British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair to send a clear message on euro entry within a year or risk losing foreign investment into Britain, the Financial Timesreported today.
Irish-born Mr Niall FitzGerald told the newspaper in an interview that if Mr Blair did not put the issue on the agenda, Unilever might reconsider whether to continue manufacturing in Britain, and could relocate its headquarters.
A decision not to proceed with a referendum on the euro "would force us to examine very carefully whether the UK continued to be the appropriate place in which to locate manufacturing for the 50 percent of our market which is in Europe ... and whether this was the appropriate place (for) the headquarters of an international company," he said.
"One of the important reasons for being here would be taken away," Mr Fitzgerald told the FT, adding that his views were "widely held" by international businesses.
"Sufficient has been said for most people to expect that there should be a referendum by the autumn of 2002, and if there is a sense that that is now beginning to drift then I think a lot of people will begin to walk away from supporting the government on this issue," he warned.
Mr Blair's landslide election victory last week persuaded many that he would try to harness the momentum to mount a pro-euro campaign, but the first manoeuvres from the new government have suggested it will be just as cautious as Mr Blair's first administration on the issue.
Mr Blair has said Britain must pass five economic tests of convergence before the issue will be put to a referendum. The tests will be assessed within two years.
AFP