The consequences of Panama leakage. Britannia

The fact that the late father of the British Prime Minister David Cameron appears in Panama documents, the media discussed the documents from the very beginning of the publication of documents. Initially, the British government refused to comment, referring to the fact that it is about private matters. The media interest in the topic only grew from this, as a result of which Cameron had to admit that at a certain stage he also participated in offshore, before he was sold in 2010. At the same time, Cameron emphasized that he regularly paid taxes.

The Economist writes that the last few weeks David Cameron had been difficult-by the standards of the Prime Minister, who, in principle, does not have a strong united opposition inside or outside his party. First, the Minister of Labor and Pensions resigned in protest against budgetary abbreviations. Then the transnational corporation Tata Group She stated that she was going to sell her steel production in Britain, referring to the fact that the business became unprofitable due to government policy (as a result, the employment of a large number of its British employees was in question).

And immediately after that, the Panama story began. Although formally, Cameron in connection with her is difficult to impose anything specific, it made a multi-level scandalous saga. Firstly, this is due to the fact that the government (contrary to the standard advice of political strategists) did not want to independently reveal the public all the facts, which ensured an exciting intrigue. Secondly, everyone immediately remembered how in 2013 Cameron in the Council of Europe defended the special position of offshore in terms of transparency requirements for them. Thirdly, Cameron tightened the tax policy and reduced social benefits, using the rhetoric of proximity to the people: the government understands the difficulties of citizens with a low level of income, but is forced to take severe measures in harsh circumstances. Talking about large investments and multimillion -dollar trains in exotic offshores poorly fit into the image of the government, at least remotely understanding the hardships of their people and choosing a strict policy as the smallest of evils.

British Prime Minister David Cameron performs in the European Parliament. Photo: YouTube.com

Nevertheless, the author notes, in fact, the scandal of Cameron does not threaten anything in the sense that this is not a reason for his resignation, no matter what the Labor said. Theoretically, the Laborists could just take the opportunity to intercept power. However, under the guidance of his new leader, the populist Jeremy Corbin, their policy has become very ineffective and mainly comes down to the Donkykhotsky rhetoric.

Meanwhile, the same scandal can have a significant impact on the fate of the British referendum on leaving the EU. Along with other recent stories, he plays into the hands of the political group that campaigns for exit. Part of the agitation is based on the fact that the Prime Minister (acting just in favor of continuing the EU membership) is the Europile acting in his interests, far from folk adversity and completely does not protect the interests of ordinary citizens. Even if this agitation does not lead to the fact that more citizens will come to the referendum to vote for the exit, it may well turn out that more citizens who could vote for membership will not go to vote at all.

The other material of The Economist states that Panama history gives Cameron a very convenient platform for holding an international anti -corruption summit planned for the next month. The author believes that Britain in this matter can and should be a leader. Now, thanks to Panama documents, schemes have been opened, thanks to which illegal operations remain hidden. In particular, these are anonymous nominal companies that no one knows about. This is also the lack of a controlling system that regulates offshore. Such a system exist - it is used to control the Central Bank and is quite effective. Accordingly, Cameron needs to take advantage of the case and convince other governments that it is time to extend control to the shadow areas.