British Prime Minister David Cameron is to give his strongest warning this week that he might back Britain leaving the EU unless other European leaders agree to his demands for reform of the bloc, media reported on Saturday.
Cameron is due to outline British demands for renegotiation of its EU membership terms in a letter to be published tomorrow to European Council President Donald Tusk.
In a speech the same day, he is to say that if no deal can be reached, he could back a British exit when an in/out referendum is held before the end of 2017.
“If we can’t reach such an agreement, and if Britain’s concerns were to be met with a deaf ear, which I do not believe will happen, then we will have to think again about whether this European Union is right for us,” Cameron is to say, according to the media reports. “As I have said before — I rule nothing out.”
Cameron has faced criticism both at home and abroad for not spelling out details of the concessions he is seeking from other European leaders with detailed discussions expected to accelerate before a summit next month.
The reports said Cameron’s letter to Tusk would include demands such as barring in-work benefits for EU migrants for four years, an exemption from any closer EU integration and more powers for national governments to block EU legislation.
While Cameron has never ruled out campaigning to leave the EU if he failed to secure any agreement, media said the tone of the speech was his strongest assertion to date that the “status quo” was unacceptable.
However, in his speech Cameron is also to repeat that he wanted Britain to remain in the 28-nation bloc, which it joined in 1973, and was confident a deal could be struck which would suit Britain and its partners.
He will also deliver a strong message to both those campaigning for a British exit and for those who want to stay in the EU regardless of whether reform could be achieved.
“Those who believe we should stay in the EU at all costs need to explain why Britain should accept the ‘status quo.’ I am clear that there are real problems with this,” he is to say, according to the reports. “Those who think Britain should just leave now also need to think hard about the implications of their arguments. What would being outside the European Union mean for our economic security?”
Opinion polls show most Britons favor staying within the EU, although support for remaining in the bloc versus leaving has narrowed in recent months.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother who published a children’s book about grief after the death of her husband is to serve a life sentence for his murder without the possibility of parole, a judge ruled on Wednesday. Richins was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing a cocktail given to her husband, Eric Richins, with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four other felonies, including insurance fraud, forgery and attempted murder for trying to poison her husband weeks earlier on Feb. 14, 2022, with a
‘PERSONAL MISTAKES’: Eileen Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony, which comes with a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison A southern California mayor has agreed to plead guilty to acting as an illegal agent for the Chinese government and has resigned from her city position, officials said on Monday. Eileen Wang (王愛琳), mayor of Arcadia, was charged last month with one count of acting in the US as an illegal agent of a foreign government. She was accused of doing the bidding of Chinese officials, such as sharing articles favorable to Beijing, without prior notification to the US government as required by law. The 58-year-old was elected in November 2022 to a five-person city council, from which the mayor is selected
DELA ROSA CASE: The whereabouts of the senator, who is wanted by the ICC, was unclear, while President Marcos faces a political test over the senate situation Philippine authorities yesterday were seeking confirmation of reports that a top politician wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) had fled, a day after gunfire rang out at the Philippine Senate where he had taken refuge fearing his arrest. Senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, the former national police chief and top enforcer of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s “war on drugs,” has been under Senate protection and is wanted for crimes against humanity, the same charges Duterte is accused of. “Several sources confirmed that the senator, Senator Bato, is no longer in the Senate premises, but we are still getting confirmation,” Presidential
HELP DENIED? The US Department of State said that the Cuban leadership refuses to allow the US to provide aid to Cubans, ‘who are in desperate need of assistance’ US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday said that Cuba’s leadership must change, as Washington renewed an offer of US$100 million in aid if the communist nation agrees to cooperate. Cuba has been suffering severe economic tumult led by an energy shortage that plunged 65 percent of the country into darkness on Tuesday. Cuba’s leaders have blamed US sanctions, but Rubio, a Cuban American and critic of the government established by Fidel Castro, said the system was to blame, including corruption by the military. “It’s a broken, nonfunctional economy, and it’s impossible to change it. I wish it were different,” he told
RSS