PM takes a pasting from the Eurocrats

FOR David Cameron, the humiliation over his attempt to stop the archfederalist Jean- Claude Juncker becoming president of the European Commission is almost complete. Fellow leaders who the Prime Minister believed he could count on for support have long since deserted him, and the appointment i s expected t o be confirmed by a perfunctory vote at a summit later this week. Behind the scenes, the Eurocrats have been pouring s corn on Mr Cameron – with Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski c aught on t ape expressing some very undiplomatic views on his ‘incompetent’ and ‘stupid’ negotiating tactics. One of the more hopeful suggestions made by Tory MPs i n recent days was t hat, as consolation f or t he Juncker debacle, EU leaders may offer Downing Street some concessions on the need for reform.

Yet, as a leaked document setting out the EU’s priorities until 2019 reveals, Brussels has other ideas. The four-page memo fails to deliver any of the substantial changes that Mr Cameron is seeking – pointedly ignoring his key demand for national parliaments to be given a veto over ‘unwanted’ European legislation.

In a sign of growing frustration, No. 10 yesterday suggested for the first time that Mr Cameron might campaign to l eave the EU i n his planned 2017 referendum.

Such tactics are very high-risk – but, with the Euro elite behaving just as arrogantly as ever, the Prime Minister urgently needs to find a way of being taken seriously.