The only way to make Europe understand

DAVID Cameron has been busy this week seeking to prove just how serious he is about renegotiating the terms of Britain’s EU membership.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker was invited to Chequers and told how unhappy the country is with its current terms. The in/ out Referendum Bill was the centrepiece of Wednesday’s Queen’s Speech. Yesterday, the Prime Minister completed leg one of a charm offensive by visiting France and Holland. Today, he’s in Poland and Germany.

Doubtless, Downing Street is pleased by the headlines that have been generated by this frantic activity.

But a word of caution: it is the substance of the changes he negotiates that he will be judged upon, not the speed with which he is seen to move.

Indeed, bringing the date of the referendum forward to 2016 – as Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond hinted yesterday – might prove self-defeating.

The last impression the PM needs to create is that he has secured only cosmetic changes, which do nothing to restore Britain’s lost sovereignty or protect our long-term national interest. What was encouraging from Mr Hammond yesterday, however, was the clear message that Britain will vote to leave the EU unless other states agree to the Government’s reforms.

Most crucially, he did not rule out Mr Cameron himself recommending that Britain should walk away.

It is maintaining this threat – not an accelerated referendum timetable – that will force the eurocrats to start engaging in the truly meaningful negotiations that Britain’s voters demand.