Brussels, 24/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Having stepped up the number of his bilateral meetings following his victory in the UK's general elections on 7 May, British Prime Minister David Cameron will meet his European counterparts on Thursday evening in order to launch, more officially, the renegotiation process of the UK belonging to the EU.
As the Conservative government promised, a referendum on the EU will be organised in the UK by the end of 2017, with the British Parliament having approved the draft legislation organising this. Cameron's objective will therefore be to make holding this referendum official but he is not expected to arrive in Brussels with detailed proposals, a British source stated on Wednesday afternoon.
In a discussion that is not generally envisaged as being very long, Cameron is mainly expected to remind his colleagues - on an individual basis and “without collective presentation” - of the four main areas on which the EU must be reformed, according to Cameron, in order to ensure that his country stays in the EU. Cameron is also expected to listen to his colleagues' possible comments.
These four areas have already been presented by the UK's foreign minister, Philip Hammond. They cover: - competitiveness, trade via “more aggressive trade agreements”, the efficiency of the single market in an initial phase; - the extensive integration of the eurozone, which should not be done to the detriment of countries that are not eurozone members; - the principle of subsidiarity, through which the national parliaments could block legislation that is deemed as harmful, and that of an ever closer union; - the area of social services offered to European migrants. This area will have to be reviewed even if “it's not a question of endangering the fundamental principles”, the same source believed.
And it is only after this European summit that the technical work will begin - the idea being to focus especially on the substance and the progress made in this negotiation, rather than on the timetable to be kept, this source stated.
The European Commission will set up a UK Taskforce in the autumn, steered by Jonathan Faull from the UK, who will leave his post as Director General of the internal market in the Commission (see other article). This unit will be tasked with identifying the work needed to respond to the British requests.
In the meantime, the European Council is expected to return to this issue in a report put to the European summit in December 2015. The Council's role, and that of European Council President Donald Tusk, will be to define a “method” to be used for this renegotiation - which Cameron does not imagine without Treaty changes. The conclusions of the summit on 25-26 June are not expected to mention Cameron's announcement of holding a referendum on the EU. (Solenn Paulic)