Emma Thompson says Brexit would be 'madness'

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

AFP photo

Actress Emma Thompson said on Feb. 15 that it would be "madness" for Britain to leave the EU, adding that she felt more European than English.

Thompson, 56, was asked about how she would vote in a referendum on a so-called "Brexit", after she presented her new Nazi-era thriller "Alone in Berlin".
 
"I feel European even though I live in Great Britain, and in Scotland," she told reporters at the Berlin film festival.    

"So of course I'm going to vote to stay in Europe, Oh my God, it would be madness not to. It would be a crazy idea not to. We should be taking down borders, not putting them up."  

The quest to prevent Britain from crashing out of the European Union will come to a head this week at a crunch EU summit on Feb. 18 and Feb. 19.
 
Many of Prime Minister David Cameron's demands for reforms ahead of a referendum on Britain's membership of the crisis-hit bloc still face opposition just days before the meeting.
 
Britain is expected to hold an in-or-out referendum in June. If it becomes the first country to leave the EU it would put enormous strain on a bloc already struggling with the biggest migration crisis in 70 years.