The Eurozone will become a federal state, European Commission Vice-President Viviane Reding predicts.

Reding, meanwhile, has urged the UK not to leave the European Union.

During a speech in Cambridge University on Monday, she stated that an "extraordinary leap of integration" has been made by European countries due to the economic crisis. She cited as an example the plans to create a banking union, as well as the Commission's new powers to scrutinize national budgets.

Like in British politician Winston Churchill's view, Britain should remain "a close ally with the federated Eurozone, with which it would continue to share a common market, a common trade policy, and, hopefully, a common security agenda", Reding was quoted as saying by the EUObserver.

She noted, however, that if Britain decides one day to be part of a stronger integration process, the door is open and the country will have its seat at the table.

The EU commissioner also took the occasion to express her criticism at the British debate ahead of a potential referendum on the UK's membership.

She assured that a possible "Brexit" (i.e. Britain leaving the 28-nation bloc) would isolate London and deprive it of its unhindered access to the EU's single market.

The city, which is the financial heart of Europe, but also an engine of the British economy, accounts for roughly one-tenth of the British economy and is rivaled globally only by New York, according to Euractive's estimates.

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