Brussels, 18/12/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 17 December, the EU committed to finding a solution by February 2016 to respond to British Prime Minister David Cameron's requests, without compromising the Treaties, so that he might be able to organise the referendum in 2016 on the UK belonging to the EU.
This is the goal that the EU heads of state and government set at their meeting in Brussels on Thursday, after listening carefully to Cameron. Their discussion enabled paths for compromise to be cleared.
The discussion was “quite general”, according to a European source. It was not only limited to the most thorny point - in other words, Cameron's request to limit the access of European workers to the UK's social benefits payments for a period of four years. This request, as it currently stands, would involve a Treaty change, in Cameron's view.
Cameron was reportedly open to alternatives to reach this limit on migration, according to the same source. No precise method was identified at this meeting and the legal questions were not discussed as to the form that these possible changes might take. The issue “of Treaty changes was not ruled out, nor approved”, the source said. However, “there is a need to be pragmatic” and to act according to the tight timetable, the source added.
For the European Commission and most of the member states, several paths might therefore be possible - especially the use of the legally binding 'Danish' formula, which was used by the Edinburgh European Council in 1992 afer the referendum in Denmark for the options of withdrawing. “Everything is converging on the Danish solution”, the same source said.
For European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, there is not just one difficult question (the social benefits payments) but “all the questions are difficult”, he said at the end of the meeting. Cameron also wants improvements as regards the integration of the eurozone, competitiveness and subsidiarity.
There is “lots of difficult work ahead of us”, Cameron said at a press conference. He came across as optimistic, underlining that progress has been made, with the European leaders having recognised in their conclusions that they want to reach mutually satisfactory solutions.
As regards the Treaty changes, what counts is reaching a solution that is “legally binding and irreversible”, Cameron stated. “There can be an adaptation, a development, but there must be respect of the European rules, of the European acquis. It's on this principle that we must continue the discussion”, said France's President François Hollande. In his view, the two most delicate questions are those of the eurozone and the social benefits payments. As regards the latter, the four-year suspension “is a timespan that seems very long and difficult to reconcile with the Treaties”, he said. He added that some member states have asked for this suspension to be reduced or even “purely and simply removed”.
“We would all like the UK to remain in the European Union”, said Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel. “The fourth pillar (social benefits payments) will not be easy to negotiate. But I think that, as before, where there is a will, there is a way to find solutions”, she concluded. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic wth Elodie Lamer, Camille-Cerise Gessant and Pascal Hansens)
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