EU says UK deal ‘ fragile’ as Paris seeks changes
Brussels, Feb. 11: A draft accord to help keep Britain in the European Union is “very fragile”, a top EU official warned on Wednesday as France and eastern states pushed for changes before leaders meet to try and seal the deal next week.
European Council president Donald Tusk, who agreed reform proposals last week with British Prime Minister David Cameron, said they were “balanced and solid” and he hoped to finalise them when he chairs a Brussels summit next Thursday and Friday.
“However, let me be clear — this is a very fragile political process,” he added, announcing that he had cleared his diary and would travel to Paris, Berlin and eastern Europe early next week “to secure broad political support for my proposal”.
Mr Tusk spoke on the eve of a second round of talks among the 28 EU leaders’ top aides and envoys — the so called “sherpas” — in Brussels. They have substantially agreed a text of reforms during the talks, but arguments over migration and treaty change will be left to political leaders to settle next week, diplomats said.
The first meeting of the “sherpas” on Friday, following Mr Tusk’s circulation of his reform proposals, saw participants broadly welcome a first draft as a way to help Mr Cameron win a referendum in the coming months to prolong Britain’s 43- year membership.
But on Wednesday, France, the traditional pro-
France demanded significant changes, particularly to Mr Cameron’s effort to secure protections for Britain from possible EU measures favouring the majority of states that use the euro
European sparring partner of eurosceptic Britain, demanded significant changes, particularly to Mr Cameron’s effort to secure protections for the sterlingbased City of London from possible EU measures favouring the majority of states that use the euro.
Finance minister Michel Sapin told legislators in Paris that the current draft must be amended to avoid skewing EU rules in favour of London, the bloc’s leading banking centre: “There are... several ambiguities in the texts,” he said. “Treatment must be as identical as possible. That’s why we’re fighting.”
French concerns focus on British- based banks benefiting from different regulations to those in the eurozone — less onerous capital requirements, say — while retaining full access to the single EU market in financial services.
And while Mr Cameron has insisted he has not sought a veto over the eurozone’s affairs, Paris also argues that the current wording of a new British right to delay eurozone decisions must be amended to place tighter limits on how long the UK could hold up the process.