U.K.'s Cameron: EU demands not 'mission impossible'
LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday called on the European Union to agree to "irreversible changes" in the county's relationship with the 28-nation political bloc as he stepped up a campaign to safeguard British interests ahead of a promised referendum on membership in the alliance.
Cameron gave a speech in London at the Chatham House think tank where he detailed key demands he intends to make of the EU as the country prepares for an in/out vote on membership of the group. He has vowed to hold that by the end of 2017.
"We are a proud, independent nation. We intend to stay that way," Cameron, who wants Britain to remain in a reformed EU, told the audience.
"Never forget the the European Union now comprises 28 ancient nations of Europe," he said. "That diversity is Europe's greatest strength. Britain says let's celebrate that fact, let's acknowledge that the answer to every problem is not always more Europe. Sometimes it is less Europe."
Describing his list of demands as not "mission impossible," Cameron said he wants the EU to reform the reciprocal access it gives member states to welfare benefits, to "protect the single market for Britain and for others outside" the euro currency and to "write competitiveness into the DNA of the whole European Union." He also wants national parliaments to be given more power to opt out of EU rules.
The referendum is "probably the most important decision the British people will have to take at the ballot box in our lifetime," he said.
Crucially, Cameron said that if British voters decided it was time to leave the EU, a second referendum would not be held and the decision would be final.
The comments made in his address were echoed in a letter he sent to European Council President Donald Tusk.
Margaritis Schinas, a spokesman for the European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, called some of the demands in Cameron's speech "highly problematic."
"They touch upon the fundamental freedoms of our internal market," he said.
Schinas indicated that restricting welfare benefits for people from other EU nations for four years would be tantamount to limiting freedom of movement, one of the founding principles of the EU.
He said Cameron's letter to the Commission should be considered the beginning, not the end, of the negotiations.
George Osborne, Britain's treasury minister, nevertheless said that the proposals would be to everyone in the EU's benefit.
“We’re going to sit round the table and the negotiations are going to start and I think we have a real good chance to achieve the reform that we all want to see,” Osborne said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told reporters in Berlin that Cameron was bringing "no surprises to the table." She said she discussed the proposals with Britain's prime minister over the phone Monday and was willing to work with him on them.
Figures published by market research firm YouGov in September showed that more Britons (40%) wanted to leave the EU than remain a member (38%) for the first time since November 2014. YouGov said it coincided with the biggest European refugee crisis since World War II, but said it could not be sure if that was the cause of the shift.
However, another poll by research firm Ipsos MORI published in late October revealed that 52% of Britons said they would vote to stay in the EU if there was a referendum, compared with 39% who would vote to leave.
The EU released a separate report Tuesday that was critical of Turkey's record on human rights, corruption and the pace at which it has enacted democratic reforms.
Turkey started EU accession negotiations in 2005, but they have been delayed amid European concerns over "major shortcomings" and legislation that "(run) against European standards."
Hjelmgaard reported from Berlin.