German MPs decry Cameron’s EU exit threats
GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party colleagues expressed growing dismay at the prospect of a British exit from the European Union (EU), with one legislator portraying Prime Minister David Cameron’s planned referendum as an “existential risk” for Europe.
As European leaders prepared to discuss Britain’s call for EU reform in four main areas at a summit in Brussels today, Mr Cameron’s approach is raising concern in the Chancellery in Berlin that his demands go too far, according to a German government official.
Another worry was that any agreement Mr Cameron might extract from the rest of the 28-nation EU would not be enough to sway Europe-sceptical British voters, said the official, who asked not to be identified discussing private deliberations.
“The task of finding a solution is very demanding”, and EU principles such as the free movement of citizens and equal treatment among member countries “aren’t up for debate”, Ms Merkel said in a speech to legislators in the Bundestag in Berlin yesterday.
Mr Cameron is seeking to win back powers from the EU and obtain greater protection for UK interests to present to voters before the referendum he plans by the end of 2017. He may be looking for a clash in Brussels to appeal to his domestic audience amid anti-Europe sentiment in his party and country.
“A head of government should never expose his country or Europe to an existential risk, whatever the threat,” Norbert Roettgen, the head of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said on Tuesday.
Gunther Krichbaum, another senior legislator in Ms Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, said Mr Cameron should not count on changing the EU’s treaties.
The British government has said Mr Cameron was not considering softening his stance on the most contentious area of welfare reform and migration, nor was he looking at different options to take to the summit.
“The whole renegotiation is difficult, it’s taking time,” Mr Cameron said earlier this month. “It’s tough what I’m asking for.” Former UK prime minister John Major told BBC radio that flirting with a British exit was “very dangerous and against our country’s interests”, while Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told parliament in Rome that Britain could not expect “veto power” in Europe.
Even as Ms Merkel seeks to help Mr Cameron keep the UK in the bloc, other EU leaders are preparing to urge him to back down at the summit. They would probably reject his proposal to force EU migrants to the UK to wait four years before they qualify for welfare payments, said four diplomats, all from different nations.
Several governments were furious about both the substance of his demands and the style of negotiation, which recently included a request to revise the bloc’s underlying treaty, they said, asking not to be named because talks were in progress.
Mr Cameron needed to be open and specific about his demands at the EU summit and explain his domestic political reasons, an EU official told reporters in Brussels yesterday.
It was hard to see how his demand for restricting migrant benefits could be met, said the official, who asked not to be identified in line with EU policy.
Treaty changes, as well as being among the core obstacles to a deal, would be needed to meet Mr Cameron’s demands, a panel of UK legislators said this week.
That was not on the cards, said Mr Krichbaum, who is the head of the German lower house’s European affairs committee.
“Nobody is in favour of opening the treaties,” Mr Krichbaum said in an interview. While “we are open for these political talks,” treaty change “will not be possible”, he said.
After this week’s summit, the prime minister will again meet with Ms Merkel in January at a conference of Bavaria’s ruling Christian Social Union party.
All the same, Germany could only go so far in trying to keep the UK in the EU, Mr Roettgen said.
“Germany can’t help that much because the Britons take the position that they can decide themselves on the interpretation of their interests,” Mr Roettgen said.
A British exit would be an “enormous blow” to the EU at a time when the bloc was facing the biggest crisis since its inception, and it would trigger another referendum to leave the UK in Scotland, he said.
“That means that in the shortest amount of time, the British prime minister will have destroyed the United Kingdom,” Mr Roettgen said. “Just taking on this risk is unjustifiable.”