No deal yet as UK renegotiation continues overnight
Date
2/19/2016 6:56:33 PM
(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A deal continued to elude European leaders as they held talks through the night to bridge differences over Britain’s EU renegotiation.
The office of U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said there were “some signs of progress” in his efforts to secure agreement from the 27 other European heads of state and government.
But European Council President Donald Tusk said "a lot still remains to be done" following a summit dinner that lasted until 2.20 a.m. Brussels time [0120GMT] Friday morning.
Cameron himself finally left the European Council building at around 5.30 a.m. after further talks with leaders including France’s Francois Hollande and was due to return at around 9 a.m.
The U.K. prime minister is working to placate concerns from EU member states who oppose some of his key demands.
Four Eastern European countries -- the Czech Republic Hungary Poland and Slovakia -- have rejected proposals to curb welfare benefits for migrant workers within the EU.
France is concerned that another Cameron demand -- no discrimination against EU member states that do not use the European single currency -- could grant Britain a veto on eurozone matters.
Nigel Farage leader of the U.K. Independence Party which wants to Britain to leave the EU told BBC radio Friday morning that he believed a deal would be struck but that it would have little substance.
"Government after government in Britain says we are going to reform the European Union but the trouble is the word ‘reform’ means something completely different here [in Brussels]. Reform here means pushing for closer economic and political union."
He continued: "I just think there will have to be a deal of some kind but frankly we are really scratching around the edges here. There is no fundamental renegotiation on offer."
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.