Denis Staunton, London Editor
British prime minister David Cameron has promised to campaign "with all my heart and soul" for Britain to remain in the European Union if other member states agree to reform in four policy areas.
Mr Cameron outlined his demands on Tuesday in a letter to European Council president Donald Tusk and in a speech at the international affairs think tank, Chatham House.
The letter called for: new rules governing the relationship between the euro zone and non-euro countries; liberalisation of the EU’s single market; more power for national parliaments and an end to the commitment to “ever closer union”; and a requirement that people from other EU countries would have to live in Britain for four years before they could claim in-work benefits.
“When you look at the challenges facing European leaders today, the changes that Britain is seeking do not fall in the box marked ‘impossible’. They are eminently resolvable, with the requisite political will and political imagination. The European Union has a record of solving intractable problems. It can solve this one too,” said Mr Cameron.
The European Commission immediately warned that the proposal on welfare payments for EU migrants was "highly problematic" because it touched on fundamental freedoms within the single market. Britain's Europe minister David Lidington told the House of Commons later that his government was open to alternative proposals.
“Others in the EU have concerns about this. That is why we say to them: put forward alternative proposals that deliver the same result. It is the outcome of the measures – controlled, fair, properly managed migration – that is the end we seek,” he said.
Some backbench Conservative MPs were dismissive of the prime minister's demands, which veteran Eurosceptic Bill Cash described as a "pig in a poke". Ukip leader Nigel Farage said it was clear that Mr Cameron was not aiming for any substantial renegotiation.
“No promise to regain the supremacy of Parliament. Nothing on ending the free movement of people. And no attempt to reduce Britain’s massive contribution to the EU budget. His speech was an attempt to portray a new ‘third way’ relationship with Brussels that is simply not on offer,” he said.
Mr Cameron, the leader of a party that was almost torn apart by passions over Europe, asserted that Britain had always taken a pragmatic, unemotional approach to the issue of European integration.
“Like most British people, I come to this question with a frame of mind that is practical, not emotional. Head, not heart. I know some of our European partners may find that disappointing about Britain. But that is who we are,” he said.
“That is how we have always been as a nation. We are rigorously practical. We are obstinately down to earth. We are natural debunkers. We see the European Union as a means to an end, not an end in itself,” he said.
In his letter to Mr Tusk, the prime minister said he believed that his proposals were not only good for Britain but for the EU, adding that a successful renegotiation would send out a powerful signal about Europe’s capacity to face new challenges.
Cameron’s reform agenda: Main points
1. Economic Governance: an explicit acknowledgement that the EU has more than one currency; no disadvantage for any business on the basis of their country’s currency; protection for the “integrity of the single market”; euro-zone initiatives, such as a banking union, should be voluntary for non-euro countries; no liability for non-euro countries to financially support the euro; power over financial stability and supervision to remain with non-euro national governments; issues that affect all EU member-states should be decided by all member-states.
2. Competitiveness: less regulation of business; an easier flow of capital, goods and services throughout the EU; and a commitment to boosting competitiveness and productivity.
3. Sovereignty: Britain to be freed of its current EU treaty obligation to work towards “ever closer union”; more power for national parliaments to halt unwanted EU legislation; and clear proposals for implementing the EU’s commitment to subsidiarity.
4. Immigration: people coming to Britain from the EU should have to wait four years before they can qualify for in-work benefits or social housing; no more sending child benefit payments overseas.
