I am absolutely convinced that the E.U. will still be around. I am convinced the U.K. will be sitting at that table and not negotiating an exit, but being there to stay.
I am from the Netherlands, so that means we like to stick to the rules, and we like to stick to the deal, and we like countries to do what they have promised.
I used to walk in the Bowery in the early 1980s, and it was not safe. It went from this to Disneyland under Giuliani and Bloomberg. This is now one of the best-run big cities in the world.
It shouldn't be the asylum seekers wondering which country they want go to. It should be Europe telling them where to be, be it Lithuania, Sweden, or wherever.
Our national prosperity is built on our open borders. However, the reality is that if a points system is introduced in the UK it would be unavoidable for us in the Netherlands to implement similar proposals - and inevitable that many other EU countries would follow suit.
The Netherlands has been severely hit by the debt crisis, and the solution is to lower taxes, get government finances in order, and make room for investment.
The U.K. is outward-looking, trade-oriented, growth-oriented, and we do not have enough of that storyline, that tradition, that culture within the European Union.
The U.K. outside of the European Union will end up being a mid-sized economy, somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, in neither America nor Europe.
