(London) “A key turning point, because, for the first time ever, Great Britain decided to opt out of any further measure for integration in the European Union, and the European Union decided to accept this position”. According to Michael Keating, professor of the University of Aberdeen and expert in EU integration, the set of measures negotiated in Brussels last weekend by the British Prime Minister David Cameron is a point of no-return, and at the referendum of 23rd June the British citizens who believe in the EU will have little choice, because “they can vote yes to Europe but on very limited conditions that will leave them forever out of the plan for a closer political union”. “The situation is worrying, not only for pro-European British people, but also for the European Union, because for the first time there is a precedent and a country that negotiated its own getting out of some pre-agreed policies”, Keating explains. “In the past, the United Kingdom opted out of new policies but never out of existing policies, and this precedent is meaningful, even if its impact is limited for the time being. The decision not to grant work-related subsidies to immigrants from Europe and therefore to treat them differently from British citizens is meaningless in terms of money, but it has a huge impact in terms of principles, since for the very first time it has been accepted that Great Britain will have no obligations towards the European Union”.