Brexit would open world digital gateway for Europe

Berlin

AT a mid-January conference of the British Chamber of Commerce in Berlin, a German partner of an American law firm began to list all of the laws and regulations that would have to be changed if Britain left the European Union. As the list went on, the next speaker - David Owen, Britain's former foreign secretary - pulled the partner up, proclaiming that Britain's relations with Europe could never be reduced to an inventory of laws.

Both sides in the debate over Britain's continued membership of the EU appear to be increasingly overlooking the obvious logic behind this statement. Supporters of "Brexit" argue that the UK is being smothered by a Brussels bureaucracy that, if not throttled, will destroy the British character. As if a few hundred Brussels bureaucrats could ever stifle the British lion's roar.