HE DIDN’T ASK FOR MUCH – AND GOT EVEN LESS
AFTER more than 30 hours, Mr Cameron finally secured his deal. JAMES SLACK looks at what the PM had wanted – and what he got.
TAX CREDITS
WHAT HE WANTED: A ban on EU migrants being paid inwork benefits for the first four years they are here. WHAT HE GOT: In a messy compromise, Britain is being granted an emergency brake which allows for benefits to be restricted for up to four years if Britain’s public services or welfare system is under pressure. In a huge catch, the EU insists that the ‘limitation should be graduated, from an initial complete exclusion to gradually increasing access to such benefits’. This means migrants will get at least some benefits before the four years are up. Mr Cameron had wanted the brake to apply for 13 years. He only got seven with no possibility of any extension.
CHILD BENEFIT
WHAT HE WANTED: The 2015 Tory manifesto promised that: ‘If an EU migrant’s child is living abroad, then they should receive no child benefit, no matter how long they have worked in the UK and no matter how much tax they have paid.’ WHAT HE GOT: A watered down agreement that child benefit payments will be linked to the cost of living in the child’s homeland. In a further blow, he was forced to delay the introduction of the new policy for four years in the face of a wall of protest from eastern European nations. Eurosceptics will argue this is a ‘compromise on a compromise’ – which the PM said he would not agree to.
PROTECTION FROM THE EUROZONE
WHAT HE WANTED: A mechanism to ensure that ‘Britain can’t be discriminated against because it’s not part of the Euro, can’t pick up the bill for eurozone bailouts and can’t have imposed on it changes the eurozone want to make without our consent.’ WHAT HE GOT: France spent days fiercely resisting the idea that Britain can interfere in the workings of the single currency. The PM got an agreement that Britain can raise any concerns it has and they must at least listen. Will be included in future treaties.
EVER CLOSER UNION
WHAT HE WANTED: Exempt Britain from the commitment in the EU’s founding treaty to move towards ‘ever closer union’ WHAT HE GOT: The EU said it was content to acknowledge ‘that the United Kingdom, in the light of the specific situation it has under the treaties, is not committed to further political integration into the European Union’. In what Mr Cameron will present as a win, it will be incorporated into future EU treaties. The date of the next EU treaty remains unknown. AND THINGS HE ONCE PROMISED BUT NEVER ASKED FOR:
Charter of Fundamental Rights. In 2009 Mr Cameron promised a complete opt- out of the charter, which further extends human rights laws.
Social and employment laws. In 2010 Mr Cameron pledged to claw back powers from Brussels, but this was quietly dropped.
Working time directive. In 2012 he promised to change the law which includes the contentious 48-hour maximum working week.
Common Agricultural Policy. Repeated calls for reform of farming subsidies, but no sign of any change yet.
Waste. In 2009 he promised to end the European parliament’s ‘absurd’ practice of meeting in Strasbourg as well as Brussels.