EU Officials Fret Over Talk of a UK Exit

Worried that others may also want to leave

Viewed from across the English Channel, Prime Minister David Cameron's call Wednesday for a referendum on British membership in the European Union was either a pretty bad idea—or a downright dangerous one.

EU leaders accused Cameron of pandering to British euroskeptics and warned that uncertainty about London's commitment would hurt Britain as well as other bloc members. He "is playing a dangerous game for tactical, domestic reasons," Martin Schulz, a German Social Democrat who is president of the European Parliament, told Bloomberg News.