Cameron’s EU membership re-negotiation: Is he playing to lose?
Confession time: This Writer is not remotely interested in David Cameron’s attempts to renegotiate the UK’s membership of the EU. He simply hasn’t got a chance.
Cameron is asking other EU member states to agree that the UK may discriminate against their citizens – most particularly with regard to free movement, one of the four fundamental principles of membership.
Cameron has told the president of the European council, Donald Tusk, that Britain must be able to reduce the “very high level” of EU migration if he is to campaign in favour of British membership of the EU in his proposed referendum.
In a six-page letter, Cameron set out his four-point plan to renegotiate the terms of Britain’s EU membership. The other three demands are:
• Protections for non-euro members to ensure that euro members cannot draw up new rules for the single market without their agreement.
• A British opt-out from the EU’s historic commitment to forge an ever closer union of the peoples of Europe.
• Boosting competitiveness by writing it into the DNA of everything the EU does.
Margaritis Schinas, the commission’s chief spokesperson, said of the proposal: “Some things are highly problematic as they touch upon the fundamental freedoms of the internal market. Direct discrimination between EU citizens clearly falls into this last category.”
It simply isn’t going to happen.
The last demand is inflammatory, also. Boosting competitiveness? Against whom?
One is led to speculate on whether Cameron is playing to lose.
Source: David Cameron signals flexibility on migrant benefits in EU letter | Politics | The Guardian
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Cameron, the lightweight, has dug a hole for himself from which, I suspect, he will have difficulty extracting himself. Europe has always been the Tories Achilles Heel. Many of them long for what they perceive as the “heady days of Empire”. They still can’t come to terms with the fact that the British Empire ended decades ago.
Why do we always have to have someone going on about the Empire which ended 63 years ago and will never come back, no one is longing for its return just a few europhiles pretending that is the case. Cameron hasn’t even come close to asking for changes which the British populace require, so he may as well just go for a referendum now if the whole thing was not just another lie from his speech makers. He did after all claim that there was backing for his ideas at a time when Merkel stated she had no idea what ti was he wanted, perhaps he had to ask her for suggestions before putting anything forwards.
Cameron’s Catch 22 situation. One of his own making. If we vote to leave big business and the City will not be happy and the 1% will conspire to get rid of him. Possibly no big City rewards for him either. If we vote to stay in, the Eurosceptics will conspire to get rid of him. Either way he is probably a dead man walking and talking.