by Elizabeth Piper and Jan Strupczewski
LONDON / BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Council President Donald Tusk on Tuesday presented the reform proposals aimed at maintaining the Kingdom -um within the European Union but very mixed reaction Eurosceptics even close to David Cameron shows that nothing is gained for the British Prime Minister.
The proposals submitted by Donald Tusk after several day dealings with David Cameron cover the four areas (legislation, euro area competitiveness, immigration) on which the British leader has called for reform before presenting a few months, perhaps in June, a referendum for or against membership of the United Kingdom to the EU.
If it is successful, David Cameron promises to campaign for “yes”.
When moving to Chippenham, in the southwest of the England, he promised that if the project presented by Donald Tusk is further improved, it will provide the UK “the best of both worlds.”
“Sometimes you wonder if, imagining that we do not belong to the EU, I wish to join the European Union,” said David Cameron. “Today my answer is very clear: if I could get these conditions for British membership, I would definitely choose to be member of the EU because they are good conditions that are different from those of other member countries. ”
But all proposals Donald Tusk, which must still be approved by the other member states of the EU at the European Council on 18 and 19 February, was greeted by the jeers and Eurosceptics by doubts in the same circle of the conservative leader.
It provides that London may suspend for four years on welfare payments to EU nationals recently arrived on its soil and work in the country.
The UK would also have to other countries next to a new mechanism to block European legislation and would not be required to strengthen its integration within the European Union.
“The EU re-negotiation draft document shows real progress in all four areas where the UK needs changes but it is still work,” conceded David Cameron on his Twitter account.
The business community and financial markets, rather hostile to “Brexit” responded well to Tusk’s proposal, saying it raised some uncertainties.
The pound took nearly half a cent to 1.4425 dollars after the presentation of the project outline.
Stuart Walder, CEO of the Institute of Directors, an employers’ organization, found the “draft agreement better than expected.”
BRAKE EMERGENCY
A government official stressed that “for many other member countries of the EU, we are at the beginning rather than at the end of the negotiations” . “Nothing is agreed until all 28 member countries are not all in agreement,” he recalled.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson, yet David Cameron ally, said doubt that these proposals are sufficient to avoid the risk of an exit of the EU United Kingdom (“Brexit”).
“I am sure that the Prime Minister has negotiated very hard (…) but from my point of view, this is not enough and we must go further,” he said on a Sky News.
Many issues remain to be resolved, starting with the period during which the British government can use its “emergency brake” that is to say suspend social benefits from immigrants the EU, or the means to further protect the interests of the City.
The discussions are expected to continue to the top of mid-February, though some Eurosceptics believe that the government and the EU exaggerate the difficulties of these negotiations in order to present the conclusion of an agreement a success.
“What the government asks the EU is insignificant. These proposals do not allow us to take control at the EU’s expense,” said Matthew Elliott, head Leave Vote A militant groups for Brexit.
“These gadgets were previously ignored by the EU and will again be ignored because they not included in any treaty.”
A spokesman for David Cameron assured that the reform project, if approved by all member states, would be “legally binding and irreversible.”
(Eric Faye, Jean-Philippe Lefief and Jean-Stéphane Brosse for the French service, edited by Tangi Salaün)
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