AFP PHOTO / JUSTIN TALLIS
Cameron continues to come under fire on Europe
David Cameron continues to come under fire ahead of a long-awaited speech on Europe, due to be delivered in the Netherlands on 18 January.
The British prime minister is due to give a speech outlining his position on the UK’s relationship with the European Union. Specific details have yet to emerge, but Cameron is expected to call for a repatriation of certain powers from Brussels to London.
He has said that he will offer British citizens a referendum on this new relationship in the second half of his net term as prime minister – assuming he is re-elected.
Cameron is expected to seek a repatriation of certain employment and social laws, such as the working time directive, but will stop short of demanding an in-out referendum on Britain’s place in the EU, which many of his Eurosceptic critics, both inside and outside the party, want.
This week, Fresh Start, a group of Conservative Party MPs outlined the areas of legislation they would like to see David Cameron reclaim from Brussels, including reclaiming some social and employment laws, securing a reform of the common agricultural policy (CAP), and protection of London’s financial sector and the single market. An open letter to the right-wing Daily Telegraph newspaper in the UK, and signed by pro-Europe conservatives, including former Chancellor Kenneth Clarke, and others, warned against destroying the single market, called Maragret Thatcher’s “defining European legacy”, by encouraging other member states to also seek opt-outs of certain laws.
Cameron has already faced much disapproval on his European stance from political figures in the US and Europe, including Irish prime minister Enda Kenny, who joined members of the European Parliament in condemning moves by Cameron to pull back from his European commitments. Kenny said that such a move would be “catastrophic” for the UK, and that it was unlikely that the other EU member states would allow for any renegotiation of the deal between the EU and Britain.
The Dutch Foreign Minister, Frans Timmermans, has also added to Cameron’s woes, but stating that the Dutch government, seen in some quarters as an ally of the UK, are firmly against the notion of any country renegotiating opt-outs from the EU.
Meanwhile, later today (17 January) Business Secretary Vince Cable, from coalition partners, the pro-European Liberal Democrats, will deliver a speech to business leaders in which he will warn against the prime minister jeopardising the UK’s relations with the EU.
According to UK media reports, Cable will say that Cameron will add to the economic crisis in the UK by “gambling” with the prospect of negotiating a new relationship with Europe.
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