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David Cameron set for a battle of brinkmanship at EU summit David Cameron faces growing rift at EU summit in Brussels
(about 1 hour later)
David Cameron heads to Brussels for a crucial EU summit on Thursday amid uncertainty over one of the key demands in negotiations aimed at reforming Britain’s relationship with Europe. A leaked copy of the final draft of the blueprint for Britain’s new terms of EU membership suggests that David Cameron heads to Brussels with no certainty over one of his key demands – and signs that differences are widening.
As EU diplomats spoke of a Brussels potboiler featuring a “war room of lawyers” to assist all 28 EU leaders, British officials conceded that Cameron may fail in his original demand to underpin the reforms via EU treaty change. The series of documents, which were circulated in Brussels early on Thursday morning, confirm that the European council president, Donald Tusk, has failed to win agreement among EU leaders to cement some of the reforms in a change to the Lisbon treaty.
British officials said securing treaty change heads a list of “outstanding things” that the prime minister has yet to secure in his negotiations, which he launched soon after the Conservative general election victory last year. In the drafts, which were sent to EU capitals late on Wednesday and which have been seen by the Guardian, any mention of revising the treaty appears between square brackets – the device used in international negotiations to show there is no agreement on that issue.
Donald Tusk, the European council president – who is chairing the summit, has failed to win consensus among EU leaders for a treaty change in two key areas: to give the UK an opt out from the EU’s commitment to create an “ever-closer union of the peoples of Europe” and to guarantee protections for non-eurozone member states.
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A failure to secure treaty change would mark a setback for the prime minister, who pledged last year to secure “full-on treaty change”. Downing Street insists that an agreement among the EU’s 28 leaders would be “legally binding” and would be lodged at the UN regardless of whether treaty change is agreed. The drafts also show that differences in some areas are widening rather than narrowing. The unease in France that Britain is seeking to secure special protections for the City of London, by giving non-eurozone members a greater ability to stall financial regulation, is highlighted by the appearance of square brackets in an early section in the first document on a proposed new rulebook for eurozone and non-eurozone countries.
But there will be nerves among pro-EU Tories that the prime minister could enter a referendum campaign with Eurosceptics claiming there was uncertainty over whether his reform package could be challenged in the European court of justice. The influence of east European countries, which have grave concerns about proposed restrictions to child benefits and in-work benefits, is highlighted by a section on the welfare changes. A key sentence that would have restricted the child benefit curbs to Britain has been taken out, suggesting that the new rules will apply across the EU uniformly. This will be very poorly received by the Visegrad group of countries in eastern and central Europe – Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
If Cameron were to lose the referendum he would face immediate pressure to resign as prime minister. If he wins, his supporters will say that he deserves a place among the list of transformational prime minister after securing Scotland’s place in the UK in one referendum and settling Britain’s troubled membership of the EU in another. The documents were circulated as British officials conceded that the prime minister may fail in his original demand to cement the reforms in a change to the EU treaty and EU diplomats said a “war room of ­lawyers” had been brought in to assist all 28 national leaders. British officials said that securing treaty change headed a list of “outstanding things” that the prime minister had yet to secure in his negotiations, which he launched soon after the Conservatives’ general election victory last year.
The uncertainty over treaty change came amid quiet confidence in Whitehall that the prime minister will secure agreement from the EU’s 27 other leaders for his new terms for Britain’s EU membership. Cameron is seeking to impose restrictions on child benefit and in-work benefits for EU migrants to promote competitiveness, and the two demands on ever-closer union and protections for non-eurozone countries that would require treaty change. Related: Boris Johnson tells Cameron he must do more to win his support on EU
Downing Street has made plans for Cameron to return to London immediately if the summit concludes at Friday lunchtime with an agreement. The prime minister would chair a cabinet meeting where the government would formally endorse a deal. But the meeting would also lead to the lifting of collective cabinet responsibility, allowing a group of cabinet ministers currently headed by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, to campaign to leave the EU. Tusk, who is chairing the summit, has failed to win consensus among EU leaders for treaty change in two key areas. These are the prime minister’s call to give the UK an opt-out from the EU’s commitment to create an “ever closer union of the peoples of Europe”, and to guarantee protections for non-eurozone member states.
Boris Johnson, the mayor of London and a member of the Tories’ political cabinet, kept the prime minister waiting about whether he will support him to campaign to keep Britain in a reformed EU. He told the prime minister during a meeting in Downing Street that he needs to do more to win him round to a plan to reassert the sovereignty of parliament in a process that would take place outside the formal EU negotiations. A failure to underpin the reforms would represent a setback for Cameron, who pledged last year to secure “full-on treaty change”. Downing Street insists that an agreement among the EU’s 28 leaders would be “legally binding” and would be lodged at the UN regardless of whether treaty change is agreed.
But there will be nerves among pro-EU Tories that Cameron could enter a referendum campaign with Eurosceptics claiming there was uncertainty over whether his reform package could be challenged in the European court of justice.
If Cameron loses the referendum, he would face immediate pressure to resign. If he wins, his supporters will say he deserves a place among the list of transformational prime ministers after securing Scotland’s place in the UK in one referendum and settling Britain’s membership of the EU in another. The uncertainty over treaty change came amid quiet confidence in Whitehall that Cameron will secure agreement from the EU’s 27 other leaders for his new terms for Britain’s EU membership.
As well as the two demands on ever closer union and protections for non-eurozone countries that require treaty change, he is seeking to impose restrictions on child benefit and in-work benefits for EU migrants. On Wednesday it was announced that the total number of workers in the UK from the rest of the EU had risen above two million for the first time.
Downing Street has made plans for Cameron to return to London immediately if the summit concludes on Friday lunchtime with an agreement. The prime minister would chair a cabinet meeting at which the government would formally endorse a deal. But the meeting would also lead to the lifting of collective cabinet responsibility, allowing a group of ministers, currently headed by the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, to campaign to leave the EU.
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There was better news for the prime minister as Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who is the most powerful EU leader with the ability to shape though not to dominate the negotiations, threw her arms round Cameron by saying it is in Germany’s national interest to keep the UK in the EU. The mayor of London, Boris Johnson, has kept the prime minister waiting about whether he intends to support the campaign to keep Britain in a reformed EU. He told Cameron at a meeting in Downing Street that he had not yet been won round to a plan to reassert the sovereignty of parliament in a process that will take place outside the formal EU negotiations.
But the prime minister is braced for a battle when Tusk opens the formal part of the summit at 5.45pm with a roundtable discussion about the UK’s demands. This will provide an opportunity for Cameron to outline his plans and for the other 27 leaders to air their concerns. Tusk will open the formal part of the summit at 5.45pm with a round table discussion about the UK’s demands. Tusk will then park the UK negotiations to allow EU leaders to turn to the other main item on the agenda over dinner – the migration crisis.
Tusk will then park the UK negotiations to allow EU leaders to turn to the other main item on the summit agenda over dinner – the migration crisis. Putting the UK negotiations will allow the “sherpas” – senior officials from the UK, the European council, the European commission and the European parliament – to work through the night on outstanding issues. The summit will reconvene at 10am on Friday as an informal European council. This will allow Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, to attend. The parliament has to agree to the welfare changes in secondary legislation.
The summit will then reconvene at 10am on Friday as an informal European council. This will allow Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, to attend. The parliament has to agree to the welfare changes in secondary legislation. In addition to the concerns about treaty change British officials said that the outstanding issues boiled down to:• Making sure all leaders agree to the demand to protect non-eurozone countries, essentially ensuring that the eurozone cannot change the regulations for the City of London without UK agreement.• Ensuring that Britain is allowed to restrict in-work benefits to EU migrants through an emergency brake. The prime minister wants this to last for four years, though Tusk has said this should be phased out after one year.• Upholding restrictions to child ­benefit to ensure that it is paid at a rate linked to indices in the migrant’s home country. Cameron concedes that this will not apply retrospectively.
British officials said that the outstanding issues boil down to:
A British source said: “We are going into this summit clear that there are details to be nailed down, clear that we will only accept a new settlement if it is the right one and the substance is right, but fully believing we can work hard and make good progress.”
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According to officials and diplomats involved in preparing and attending the summit, it is expected to run through the night until Friday morning, when leaders might assemble to finalise a deal. According to officials and diplomats involved in preparing and attending the summit, the expectations are of a tense evening featuring a “war room of lawyers” assisting the 28 national leaders. The ­summit is expected to run through the night until Friday morning, when leaders might assemble to finalise a deal over an “English breakfast”.
Others talked of the session running into the weekend. “There’s an appetite to try to get there and take as long as it takes,” said one diplomat. Others talked of it running into the weekend. “There’s an appetite to try to get there and take as long as it takes,” said one diplomat. Tusk said he wanted to resolve the British question conclusively at the summit: “It is my goal to do the deal this week.”
Tusk said he wanted to resolve the British question conclusively at the summit. “It is my goal to do the deal this week,” he declared. The east Europeans have rejected the proposed terms of how child benefits are paid to their citizens working in Britain while their children reside at home. They want the new rules to apply only to new arrivals in Britain, an idea to which Cameron is resistant, and they want the new regime ringfenced so that it applies solely to Britain. This is generally viewed, even by the Britons, as legally impossible.
A final negotiating text was being hammered out on Wednesday evening, but while it would entail legal changes, the document would not resolve the several political issues that remain open and which will need to be addressed by national leaders.
The east Europeans have rejected the proposed terms of how child benefits would be paid to their citizens working in Britain while their offspring reside at home.
They want the new rules to apply only to new arrivals in Britain, something that is hard to swallow for Cameron, and they want the new regime ringfenced so that it applies solely to Britain. This is generally viewed, even by the British, as legally impossible.
“This is the priority for us,” said a senior east European diplomat. We need to find the right solution not only for the UK but also for us. It’s a big political problem, maybe as major for us as it is for the UK. This should be a UK-specific exercise, not for restrictions by other countries. We will do our utmost to keep it like that.”