CAMERON CAN WIN DEAL ON EU
DAVID CAMERON could seal a landmark deal to free Britain from “ever closer” EU political union if he wins a second term as Prime Minister, according to diplomatic sources.
European leaders may even be ready to move swiftly so that an early referendum on the UK’s EU membership could be held next year.
Foreign Office officials have already drawn up an outline plan in their “blue folder ” for a referendum bil l , the Standard understands.
Mr Cameron is expected to push ahead with the bill in the Queen’s Speech if he remains in No 10.
He would almost certainly run into a wall of opposition if he tried to axe the phrase “ever closer union” from the founding Treaty of Rome. But EU diplomats believe he might be able to win support for an “interpretative” protocol or declaration, allowing him to argue that it no longer applies to the UK. A protocol is a legally binding document.
Senior Foreign Office officials believe suitable language could be drafted which would allow Britain and, possibly other countries, to state that they are no longer committed to “ever closer” union.
While the phrase would remain, the protocol could make clear that its interpretation was dependent on countries’ “national traditions” or the “democratic will of their people”. The key for a Tory-led government would be to get public acceptance in all EU countries that the UK was exempt from “ever closer union”.
Mr Cameron could then say that Britain was no longer tied on a path towards a European superstate, not even on a slower of “two speeds”.
However, he would still face fraught negotiations on other parts of his strategy, including limiting immigration from other EU countries.
The UK is due to take over the presidency of the EU in the second half of 2017, the year in which Mr Cameron has pledged to hold the referendum.
But the presidency would be overshadowed, and possibly thrown into disarray, if Britain was then considering leaving the union.
German and French elections are also due to take place in 2017, which would drain political energy from attempts to reshape the EU as party leaders focus on domestic issues.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker warned days ago against allowing Greece to plunge out of the eurozone, claiming that some people in the “Anglo-Saxon world” might then “try everything to deconstruct the euro area piece by piece”.
Even if Mr Cameron remains PM, his European renegotiation plans could be derailed, with the bill for a referendum needing to get through the Lords as well as the Commons.
While the EU vote is a pledge in the Tory manifesto, it is not in the Liberal Democrats’ and Business Secretary Vince Cable said yesterday that his party would take “a strong position” against it.