The Guardian — Negotiations that could decide Britain’s future in the European Union remain on a knife-edge after all-night meetings in Brussels ended without any form of a deal.
David Cameron left talks with European Council president Donald Tusk and commission president Jean-Claude Juncker at 5.30am (CET), making no comment. Further discussions are reportedly scheduled for 9am.
Cameron has been warned by EU leaders that he would not be given a second chance if he failed to strike an agreement at the gathering of 28 heads of government.
Shortly before the talks broke up Tusk, a key broker in the negotiations, said: “For now I can only say that we have made some progress but a lot needs to be done.”
There appear to be number of key sticking points which have so far prevented Britain reaching a deal with its European partners.
They include the duration of the so-called “emergency brake” to restrict in-work benefits for EU migrants in the UK; curbs on child benefit for EU migrants whose children are not in the UK; and potential treaty changes to exempt formally the UK from the goal of “ever-closer union” and to underpin protections for non-eurozone members.
In the early hours of Friday, European leaders offered differing verdicts on any hope of a deal, with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi saying he was “less optimistic” than he had been. Finnish prime minister Juha Sipilä suggested an agreement would be struck by Friday, echoing Spain’s Mariano Rajoy, who said things were “going well”. But Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte raised the possibility of talks running into Saturday.
Cameron has embarked on the biggest gamble of his premiership as he seeks to put Britain’s place in Europe on a permanently new footing.
He told the national leaders present the EU should function on the basis of “live and let live”, allowing countries including the UK to remain a full member while standing back from moves towards greater integration, outlining an argument that is expected to continue until the UK referendum widely expected on 23 June.
Cameron antagonised the east Europeans on Thursday night by demanding a 13-year period in which Britain would be allowed to freeze in-work benefits for EU migrants in the UK for four years. This is highly unlikely to be accepted.
The German chancellor, who views the the British issue as a distraction from her much more pressing dilemmas over mass immigration in Germany and Europe, said: “We want to create the conditions for Britain to remain in the EU.”
Hollande was much more equivocal . “It’s the European Union being put into question, not merely a country within the European Union,” he said.
“Above all I want the European Union to go forward, become stronger. No one, not a head of government or state may hinder that. Let’s allow Great Britain to remain in the European Union but based on the fundamental principles.
“Otherwise, other nations will demand other exceptions. Countries may ask other amended rules of their own. Therefore when we’re speaking with Great Britain, we have to think of all the other [member] countries.”
A failure to reach a deal would mean EU leaders would probably reconvene within the next 10 days to ensure a referendum can be held by 23 June.
Refugee crisis
Away from Britain’s future in Europe there was some progress at Thursday’s summit on the refugee crisis, with Tusk and German chancellor Angela Merkel declaring it a priority, and calling a fresh extraordinary summit with Turkey, most likely in early March.
“The important statement for me today is that we have not only reaffirmed the EU-Turkey action plan, but we have said it is our priority,” Merkel said of the plan to address migration and border controls.
Merkel noted Austria backed the plan, despite its unilateral decision to introduce daily caps on migrants. “In Europe we are all always partners,” she said.
