EU viewpoints on Cameron’s Europe speech Pervenche Berès: »A self-interested speech… which has very little to do with the UK interest ”

Jeudi 24 janvier 2013

Prime Minister Cameron delivered to the British people a self-interested speech, absolutely disconnected from European reality, and which has very little to do with the UK interest or with its commitment as a member of the Union since 1973.

Mr Cameron seems to forget that the EU is a union of freedom and a free market, not a union of markets or an open relationship.

By establishing a link between the results of the next general elections in 2015 and the potential organisation of an in/out referendum in 2017, he is trying to regain confidence among his own party, by arousing resentment against the EU in the British population.

The basis of the proposed referendum will be a future renegotiation of the relationship between the EU and the United Kingdom; does he really imagine that his country can have full access to the internal market without contributing to the European budget, and rejecting a common regulatory framework for the financial services which had a major responsibility for the current crisis?

We cannot afford this kind of « Europe on demand » project.

Mr Cameron is apparently convinced that the interests of his country would be better secured within an open and fully flexible European Union; this kind of semantics is closer to basic Thatcherism than to a real reflection on the future of the EU, and on the place and role the UK will have in future.

Pour lire l’article