© Sean Gallup/Getty Images

As a non-British citizen who lives in the United Kingdom, I am one of those who will not have to answer the question: “Should the UK remain a member of the European Union?” If I were, I would consider the following two answers—both of which would render my ballot paper invalid: “Define European Union!” and “Could you ask me that question again in five years time?”

There is nothing flippant about those responses because it is important to understand, at some level of technical detail, the nature of the institution I am being asked to leave and to consider ongoing political developments that would have a material bearing on my answer.

The EU that France or Germany belong to is very different from Britain’s EU. I am not speaking about perceptions or attitudes but about the EU as legal entity. Britain is not a member of the eurozone, nor of Schengen, the group of countries that have enabled passport-free travel between one another. Britain has exempted itself from justice and interior policies and also has a special prerogative that limits the ability of the European Court of Justice to interfere with how UK courts implement the Charter of Fundamental Rights.

And these are only the formal opt-outs. Then there are the areas of policy that Britain is technically involved in, but in reality is absent from. Vladimir Putin’s EU interlocutors are Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel and France’s President François Hollande, not David Cameron. This was Cameron’s choice. And while Cameron accepts the legal principle of the free movement of labour within the EU, he does not accept the principle of non-discrimination when it comes to benefits those…

5611066595c7110c8427894.13609201