Brussels, 14/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - The British Prime Minister, David Cameron, is prepared to consider a 'plan B' to limit the migration of European nationals to the United Kingdom, the daily newspaper The Guardian reported over the weekend.
This plan, the article continues, would consist of granting social benefits only to the unemployed, not people in work.
David Cameron will hold an in-depth debate with his European partners in Brussels on Thursday 17 December on the subject of migration, the main point of discord between London and the rest of the European Union in the renegotiation of British membership of the EU. According to The Guardian, he is reported to be planning to abandon his “battle” for treaty change and focus on other measures to reduce the “pull factors” that attract EU migrants to the UK.
The British Prime Minister is reported to be showing flexibility on this point, stating that “the most important thing is to solve the problems, not to dictate the form the arrangements take”, The Guardian writes.
In a letter to his European counterparts last week, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, said that the main problem lay in the obligation on European nationals to work on British soil for at least four years in order to qualify for benefits (see EUROPE 11447). He expressed his hopes that an agreement could be found between London and its partners at the European summit of February 2016. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)