Brussels, 27/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron could call the referendum on his country's membership of the EU as early as June 2016, claimed the Independent on Sunday on 26 July.
Saying it had received information from a government source, the newspaper says that Cameron will announce the date at the Tory party's annual conference in October.
Having pledged to hold a referendum on the UK's membership of a European Union that he would like to see reformed, Cameron has several times indicated his preference for the plebiscite to be held before 2017, a year in which important elections will be held in other European countries, including Germany and France.
According to the British media, this fast-tracked date could suggest that the EU reforms demanded by Cameron may remain minor. At the European summit at the end of June, the prime minister himself conceded that the referendum could go ahead without treaty change being enacted by his European partners through ratification procedures (see EUROPE 11344 and 11343). Rather he would seek protocols and other legal instruments that would allow the ratification procedures to take place in the other 27 member states at a later date.
Osborne on tour of Europe. In the meantime, Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne is travelling around the European capitals to seek to convince partners of the need to reform the EU. He was in Paris on 26 and 27 July for meetings with his opposite numbers Michel Sapin, the finance minister, and Emmanuel Macron, who holds the economy portfolio, and also Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius.
The UK government's arguments were officially given by Cameron at the European summit at the end of June. London wants a more competitive EU to boost growth. The UK government is also keen to ensure that closer integration of the eurozone is not at the expense of those countries which have not joined the single currency or at the expense of the City, Europe's largest financial marketplace. He also wants to be able to opt out of the imperative to move towards “ever closer union”. In terms of social policy, the British authorities are questioning the social benefits paid to migrant European workers in the United Kingdom. (Solenn Paulic)