Brexit vote a burning issue not just for UK, but also the world

THE European Council meets on Thursday and Friday at a key summit in Brussels that will debate the new European Union "settlement" for Britain negotiated by Council President Donald Tusk and UK Prime Minister David Cameron. Should the package be agreed on, it will effectively kick off the campaign to decide whether Britain will remain in the currently 28-member EU with a referendum as soon as June.

The plebiscite is thus a pivotal poll that will help determine the future character of the United Kingdom and indeed the EU at large, politically and economically, for potentially decades to come. And the Council's decision will be perhaps the most critical milestone in the domestic British debate this year that could lead to exit (or Brexit) some two years after the eventual referendum date.

Should Mr Cameron win support in Brussels for his package, which Brexit proponents have already criticised as a sham, he will double-down on his efforts to sell the deal to the UK electorate. The debate promises to be a vigorous one and a number of recent polls have, dramatically, shown the "leave" vote ahead.