What does the business community in Brussels think about the UK's EU referendum?
Mixed feelings. One the one hand, many believe that the very idea of this referendum is a wake up call for Brussels bureaucracy and its weak leadership. On the other hand, many are concerned with possible weakening of economic ties with the UK and within the EU itself.
How might a possible Brexit affect foreign direct investment from your jurisdiction into the UK? And into the rest of the EU?
This is difficult to assess as long as we do not know what model of future relationship might be agreed between the UK and the EU. There is an expectation that it may be a European Economic Area model, along the lines of the agreement that Norway has today. If so, no major negative influence on client's UK investment decisions would be expected to take place.
Is the Brexit debate seen purely in economic terms, or does it expose a wider disagreement about the role of supra-national rules-based collaboration models?
This is certainly a discussion beyond economics. The view here is that the UK would like to see the EU as a primarily economic organisation, rather than a political one.
In the event that the UK votes to remain in the EU, what is the view about whether the referendum process has strengthened or weakened the EU as a concept? What might be the long term effects of this?
Should the UK vote to remain, this should lead to many changes. If the EU leadership manages to implement those changes, the EU will be stronger as a result.
What is the view on whether a Brexit would be the first step towards the drastic reorganisation or even collapse of the European Union?
Reorganisation. But if the wrong conclusions are drawn by the remaining EU member states as to what drove such a result from the UK, that may lead to pressure for similar referenda of this type in other member states grappling with similar issues.
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