Brussels, 17/03/2014 (Agence Europe) - Precipitated by opinion polls, as the European elections approach, giving the UK Independence Party (UKIP) the lead over the Labour Party, Conservative UK Prime Minister David Cameron - whose party would apparently come third - presented fresh reflections to the British press, on Sunday 16 March, reviewing the relationship between the UK and EU.
Among these reflections, Cameron particularly wants the UK no longer to be linked to the principle of “ever greater Union” - a request that will be made should there be a referendum in 2017 on EU-UK relations, he told the Sunday Telegraph.
More precisely, Cameron spoke of a seven-point plan - powers being able to take distance from Brussels rather than automatically moving towards it; national parliaments being able to associate in order to block unwanted legislation (“a red card” already proposed by the Netherlands); businesses free from red tape and able to trade more freely with North America or Asia; police forces able to protect British citizens and rid of interference from the European institutions or the European Court of Human Rights; free movement to be able to find a job and not social security allocations; support for EU enlargement but on the basis of new control mechanisms for intra-EU migration; and lastly, the UK's liberation from the precept of ever closer Union that is written into the Treaties.
The initiatives should be put to the British in a referendum which Cameron wants to organise in 2017 if he is re-elected. The British opposition has nevertheless currently succeeded in blocking this plan by manoeuvres in the parliament. If the Labour Party wins the elections in 2015, it will not organise a referendum on this issue except if there should be a further transfer of competences to Brussels, said Labour leader Ed Miliband at the end of last week. (SP)