Britain has reached an agreement with EU officials on a mechanism to block unwanted EU legislation, a source in British Prime Minister David Cameron’s office said yesterday, in a deal that meets one of Cameron’s four main reform targets.
European Council President Donald Tusk was later yesterday expected to publish a draft proposal for reforms to the EU designed to satisfy a series of demands made by Britain ahead of a planned referendum on the country’s membership in the 28-country bloc.
Included in the draft text, which would still need to be agreed to by all member states, would be a legally binding provision to allow a group of 55 percent or more member states to either stop EU legislation outright or demand changes, the source said.
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Cameron has promised to reform Britain’s ties with the EU and hold a public vote on membership before the end of next year. He hopes to finalize the reforms at a Feb. 18 and 19 summit.
British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Philip Hammond said the discussions had been encouraging, but a final deal would need further negotiations.
“It may be that the document is so good that we say: ‘Yes brilliant,’ but I rather doubt it,” Hammond told reporters in Rome late on Monday. “I suspect that the document will be the basis of further work that we need to do in the run up to the council, but we will see.”
He said if Britain did get a deal at this month’s summit of EU leaders then Cameron could call a referendum for June 23.
The agreement on a means to block EU laws is designed to address concerns among Britons that too much lawmaking power has been ceded to Brussels.
Member states are to be given three months to object to proposed new laws, the source said.
“This breakthrough will ensure that national parliaments’ voices are heard loud and clear in Brussels,” the source said.
Tusk’s draft text is to provide the basis for a deal at the summit later this month, but both British and EU officials have stressed that many of the finer details have yet to be worked out.
Cameron also wants to address issues regarding economic competitiveness, closer integration within the eurozone and, most controversially, immigration.
Britain on Sunday said that a “significant” agreement had been reached with the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, allowing Britain to suspend some payments to migrants from the bloc for four years immediately after the referendum.
However, Britain’s two best-selling newspapers yesterday gave an indication of the tough job Cameron would have to convince voters that his renegotiation had achieved meaningful changes, particularly over immigration, which is a key concern among Britons.
“Is that it then, Mr Cameron?” the Daily Mail said on its front page.
“The PM [prime minister] knows it won’t meaningfully cut numbers. So does everyone else. It’s designed to sound tough, to fool voters, to conceal the fact Britain has no real power to improve its lot within the EU,” the Sun tabloid said in its editorial.
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