IN PHOTO: An Airbus A320 airliner from Air New Zealand, seen in this undated file photo, has crashed in the sea off the southwest coast of France, near Perpignan with five people on board during a training flight on November 27, 2008.

IN PHOTO: An Airbus A320 airliner from Air New Zealand, seen in this undated file photo, has crashed in the sea off the southwest coast of France, near Perpignan with five people on board during a training flight on November 27, 2008. Reuters/HO-Airbus

Britain’s plan for a referendum to decide on quitting the European Union has rattled many businesses. On Thursday, European aero space giant Airbus came out in the open and warned the U.K. that it may be forced to reconsider investment in the country, if it goes ahead with plans to leave the European Union.

Making a strong pitch for the U.K.’s continued to stay in EU, Paul Kahn, president of the 16,000-employee Airbus U.K. said, the best way for Britain to compete for international investment will be to "remain part of the EU," reports BBC.

Referendum in 2017

Prime Minister David Cameron has already promised a referendum on the U.K.'s EU membership by the end of 2017. This has heightened the pace of debate in political and business circles. However, toeing the Conservative line, local business leader and chairman of construction equipment firm JCB Lord Bamford said the U.K. need not fear about the consequences of exiting EU.

Speaking to BBC, the Airbus leader said even if a referendum on leaving the EU may be 18 months away, companies like Airbus needed to be ahead in that debate. "I believe it is vital for a company such as Airbus to come out and make a stand in favour of Britain remaining in the European Union," he said. Airbus is the second-largest plane maker after Boeing and employs 6,000 people at Broughton, North Wales, in the U.K. where the wings of all Airbus aircraft are assembled. The EU company is a huge EU industrial enterprise spanning civil aviation, defence and space has operations in Germany, France and Spain.

Kahn said his company has concerns that it could face more red tape in terms of work visas and trade barriers, if the U.K. quits EU. However, he stressed that even if Britain were to leave the EU, the company would not immediately close down the production facilities. But he replied in the affirmative to a question of reconsidering investment, if Britain’s business climate turns bad after it exits EU.

Rule Of Brussels

Making Britain’s thinking clear on the issue, Chancellor George Osborne in his recent speech at the Confederation of British Industry said the U.K. wanted to be in Europe “but not run by Europe.” Osborne acknowledged that some businesses might "want us to leave the EU come-what-may. And there are also those, including some in this room, who want us to go further into a more federal Europe".

Osborne said the official position is already shared by the majority of British people and British businesses. He also sees a disadvantage in staying put in EU as it has "priced itself out of the global economy" with its raft of rules, regulations and red tape. However, president of the CBI, Sir Mike Rake urged businesses to "speak out early" in favour of Britain remaining in a reformed EU.

(For feedback/comments, contact the writer at k.kumar@ibtimes.com.au)