Brussels, 16/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Athens on Tuesday 16 February, the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, described the negotiations underway on the United Kingdom's renegotiated membership of the European Union as “fragile”. He said that there were still “many different questions” to be resolved by Thursday 18 and Friday 19 February, when the Twenty-Eight will seek to reach an agreement on the terms of a new relationship between London and the EU.
Donald Tusk also visited Berlin that same day to meet Chancellor Angela Merkel, following a stop-off in Prague, where he held talks with the Prime Minister, Bohuslav Sobotka.
In Romania the day before, Tusk used particularly strong language to comment on the negotiations, describing the period as “critical” and stressing that the fate of the EU hung in the balance. An agreement will be reached as long as it does not compromise the fundamental values and freedoms of the EU, he said. The President of the European Council listed the points still outstanding: - safeguard mechanism authorising the United Kingdom not to pay social benefits related to low salaries to European migrant workers for a certain period of time (four years); - the question of future treaty changes; - the emergency mechanism for non-eurozone countries which may have concerns over decisions related to the integration of the single currency zone. There is also work to be done on the notion of the ever-closer Union, regarding which the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, hopes to obtain assurances that it will not one day oblige his country to transfer more powers to European level.
In Prague and in Bucharest, Tusk spoke of the measures which could be granted to London regarding social benefits related to employment. In the Czech Republic and Romania, “the question of social benefits continues to be the most difficult”, he commented, stressing that the anticipated safeguard mechanism will not apply to Europeans already in employment in the UK. Tusk said that the proposal on the table is balanced: it preserves the freedom of movement and takes account of British concerns regarding its specific system of social benefits linked to low salaries.
On Monday, the countries of the 'Visegrad' group (Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary) met in Prague once again to draw their lines in the sand, namely the need to protect European workers already present on British soil and to ensure that the future mechanism applies only to newcomers. They also want to ensure that the provisions which would adjust the level of social benefits sent back to the countries of origin by migrant workers to the economic level of those countries will apply only to workers entering the country in the future.
According to a diplomatic source, a number of points remain under discussion: - work on the wording of the principle of the ever-closer Union; - the details of the social benefit safeguard mechanism; - the creation of an emergency brake for non-eurozone member states.
Objective: a full agreement by the morning of Friday 19 February
Late on Thursday afternoon, the summit will open on the British question before migration issues are discussed over dinner. The European leaders will then pick up their discussions on the draft agreement with the United Kingdom “to try to have a full agreement by Friday morning”, the source explained.
All of the member states want to reach an agreement, as they take the view that it is better to have this agreement than otherwise. Basically, although there is broad consensus on the British demands on competitiveness, and the idea of reinforcing the national parliament has gone down well, there is still work to be done on the wording of the principle of the ever-closer Union. There is “interpretation work to be done on the wording”, so that the United Kingdom cannot read into it a legal obligation to accept greater integration.
As regards the eurozone, several delegations, including France, want a highly specific framework of negotiations: to have the assurance that the eurozone will be able to carry out its deepening without hindrance whilst respecting the legitimate interests of nonmember states. However, no right of veto may be made. The same applies to the common rules on financial regulation, which must apply to all states, whether or not they have adopted the euro. This difference should not change the nature of the rules, which will apply to all.
On Tuesday, several European affairs ministers issued similar warnings at the 'General Affairs' Council. During a debate in which some dozen countries took the floor, France stressed the conditions laid down regarding economic governance and the integration of the eurozone. Poland, supported by Romania and Latvia, called for this safeguard mechanism not to be allowed to create a precedent and not be reproduced if ever any problems appear with the single market. Countries such as Belgium and Italy call for the principle of the ever-closer Union to be preserved. The general feeling was that an agreement must be reached by the end of the week, this source added.
In Brussels on Tuesday, Cameron visited the European Parliament to obtain its commitment to move quickly to ensure that the social pillar of the embryonic agreement is integrated into European law (see other article). He also met the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)