EU Observer editorial on Cameron's proposal for an referendum on the UK in the EU by 2017.

[pampango]

Hemmed-in by an increasingly eurosceptic Conservative party on his right, and euro-enthusiast coalition partners on his left, this is the speech the Prime Minister has promised for months. In it, he committed both to lay out a credible negotiating position for the UK vis-à-vis other EU leaders, and satisfy domestic critics, demanding the PM to deliver on his 2010 manifesto promise to re-negotiate Britain’s position on Europe.

David Cameron’s strategy relies on three rather shaky assumptions.

The first is that there will be Treaty change. EU leaders are well aware of the perils of re-opening the EU Treaties. If Cameron thinks he will be successful in extracting concessions, other EU leaders are aware that plenty of other Member States may wish to play this game too. The dual risk of a complicated bargaining process combined with the near certainty of failed national ratifications has led many EU leaders – German Chancellor Angela Merkel included - to cool on the idea of Treaty reform. As the crisis shows, a liberal reading of the powers conferred on the EU institutions by the existing Treaties may be a far less risky option.

A second assumption is that Cameron will get what he wants from re-negotiation. (H)is speech focused in on the single market ... The difficulty is that many powers and rules which Mr Cameron sees as ‘excessive regulation’ e.g. increased banking or labour regulation, are seen by other EU leaders as part and parcel of what allows the single market to work. As the Fiscal Compact illustrates, other EU Member States are quite capable of negotiating new Treaty provisions even in the face of a UK veto. The Prime Minister may in this sense be seriously over-estimating his negotiating hand.

The final assumption is that Mr Cameron’s referendum pledge will satisfy his domestic critics. The re-location of his speech from Amsterdam to London emphasizes this speech’s true audience – British public and parliamentary opinion. On this too, the 2017 referendum strategy seems unlikely to satisfy either the europhile left or the eurosceptic right.

http://euobserver.com/opinion/118848

Sounds like Cameron wants the UK to not be subject to the same banking and labor market regulations but still be a member of Europe's free trade zone.

It does seem unlikely that Cameron's EU referendum gambit will satisfy the "europhile left or the eurosceptic right".

[Laelth]

1. k&r for exposure.

It makes sense to pay attention to our greatest ally.

-Laelth