Brussels, 28/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The latest speech by UK Prime Minister David Cameron on immigration from within the EU, delivered on Friday 28 November, has had a mixed reception from European leaders. He called for limits to be placed on social benefits for EU migrants but made no mention of putting in place entry quotas.
For some this was “bullying the EU” while for others it was common sense. Former European justice and fundamental rights commissioner Viviane Reding accused Cameron of trying to bully the EU, not, she suggests, the right way to negotiate. The Tory group in the European Parliament took the view that Cameron was tackling the real problems. Timothy Kirkhope (ECR, UK) said the UK prime minister was right to focus on the core principle that “that you have to pay into the system before getting something back out. He is also right to focus on the economic incentives that make the UK an attractive place, and to address those pull factors”.
In his keenly awaited speech, Cameron set out his demands on immigration from the other states of the European Union and argued that EU migrants should have to wait four years before being able to claim certain benefits, such as tax allowance and access to social housing. There would be discussion in Europe on the points of legislation, the parts of the treaty that have to be changed, he said, stating that there was no doubt whatsoever that, overall, treaty change is needed, and he expressed his firm hope that this change could be negotiated. European jobseekers should also be required to leave the country if they fail to find employment within six months of their arrival. The British people “don't want limitless immigration and they don't want no immigration. They want controlled immigration. And they're right”, he stressed, briefly interrupted when an alarm went off - the alarm “sounding at the European Commission”, he joked.
Telephone conversation with Juncker
The European Commission responded to the speech by calling for these discussions to take place calmly and without any excessive “dramatisation”. “These are British views. They are have to be evaluated and it has to be seen how these issues can be addressed”, said Juncker's spokesperson Margaritis Schinas. The Commission will “see what can be done without closing the door”, he added. He also repeated that freedom of movement of European citizens remains a fundamental right and that it was up to “national legislators to tackle abuses and European legislation allows this”. The Court of Justice of the EU recently made this clear with its “Dano ruling” (see EUROPE 11195). Cameron and Juncker spoke by telephone on this issue on Thursday evening, Schinas revealed, without giving any detail of the conversation. During his campaign for the Commission Presidency, Juncker rejected the idea of treaty changed to respond to Cameron's concerns but he has always said that he is keen to find a “fair deal” with the UK.
Cameron's offensive on renegotiating the treaties and on EU migrants began in 2012, with migrants from the Eastern European countries, and Poland in particular, being the target. Cameron wants to be sure that migrants do not send family allowance paid by the United Kingdom to their children in their native countries. His agitation has much to do with the rise in popularity of Nigel Farage's Eurosceptical UKIP which is riding the wave of abuses European migrants are supposed to be guilty of.
On Thursday 27 November, fresh figures were published by the United Kingdom's National Statistical Office showing a 39% surge in net immigration between June 2013 and June 2014, with the arrival of 260,000 people, 78,000 more than in the year to June 2013. The UK government had sought to reduce net immigration to below 100,000. Cameron has warned that the plans to reduce access to the benefits system were “an absolute requirement” if the UK is to remain within the European Union. If his demands “fall on deaf ears”, he warned, he “will rule nothing out”. If he were to win the general election on May of next year, Cameron has promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain's membership of the EU and then to hold an in-out referendum in 2017. (SP)