compromise
02-03-2013, 03:46 PM
http://www.theparliament.com/latest-news/article/newsarticle/uk-referendum-on-eu-membership-asks-all-the-right-questions/#.UQ7Y1KUj7-Y
Dutch MEP Derk Jan Eppink says that UK premier David Cameron's recent speech promising the British electorate an in/out referendum on EU membership "asks all the right questions".
The Conservatives and Reformist group co-chair said the problem was not so much the depth of the coming negotiations between the UK and Brussels, but how to sell the results to voters increasingly hostile voters encouraged by the "political hooligans" of the UKIP party.
In due time, he predicted, there will be a European convention on which a British plebiscite would be based.
Eppink said the UK was not alone in its dissatisfaction with the EU's status quo, saying it has "silent allies" in Sweden, Finland, the other Baltic nations and the Netherlands who represented the vanguard leading smaller members.
In a briefing with Brussels-based correspondents, the MEP said these countries feared the UK's possible departure because the result would be a duopoly of power and leadership between Paris and Berlin, a rather dismal prospect for everyone else.
The acquis communitaire should not be regarded as "a holy thing" because there is already an à la carte system operating in the EU and that will be even more the case when it has 30 or more members.
"We must adopt a comprehensive approach to the inevitable negotiations," Eppink insisted, "and that means we will have to take account of what other countries will want out of them - for instance, on questions of immigration and income criteria."
Speaking at the Brussels press club, he added, "Remember, the Cameron speech was not exclusively for British consumption, it was a radical re-assessment of a European future to which all members could subscribe to a greater or lesser degree.
Looked at in this way, Eppink said Cameron "is not in fact asking for very much - certainly not fundamental change."
"Above all, the prime minister aspires to an altered balance of competences between Brussels and member capitals. Why was that apparently so feared?"
Eppink said there were already "significant signals" from Germany that the country would take a constructive role in finding a deal which might meet British approval.
Other chancelleries, he said, were moving in the same direction but have not so far declared themselves.
"Only France will have to be dragged to the negotiating table," Eppink said.
Dutch MEP Derk Jan Eppink says that UK premier David Cameron's recent speech promising the British electorate an in/out referendum on EU membership "asks all the right questions".
The Conservatives and Reformist group co-chair said the problem was not so much the depth of the coming negotiations between the UK and Brussels, but how to sell the results to voters increasingly hostile voters encouraged by the "political hooligans" of the UKIP party.
In due time, he predicted, there will be a European convention on which a British plebiscite would be based.
Eppink said the UK was not alone in its dissatisfaction with the EU's status quo, saying it has "silent allies" in Sweden, Finland, the other Baltic nations and the Netherlands who represented the vanguard leading smaller members.
In a briefing with Brussels-based correspondents, the MEP said these countries feared the UK's possible departure because the result would be a duopoly of power and leadership between Paris and Berlin, a rather dismal prospect for everyone else.
The acquis communitaire should not be regarded as "a holy thing" because there is already an à la carte system operating in the EU and that will be even more the case when it has 30 or more members.
"We must adopt a comprehensive approach to the inevitable negotiations," Eppink insisted, "and that means we will have to take account of what other countries will want out of them - for instance, on questions of immigration and income criteria."
Speaking at the Brussels press club, he added, "Remember, the Cameron speech was not exclusively for British consumption, it was a radical re-assessment of a European future to which all members could subscribe to a greater or lesser degree.
Looked at in this way, Eppink said Cameron "is not in fact asking for very much - certainly not fundamental change."
"Above all, the prime minister aspires to an altered balance of competences between Brussels and member capitals. Why was that apparently so feared?"
Eppink said there were already "significant signals" from Germany that the country would take a constructive role in finding a deal which might meet British approval.
Other chancelleries, he said, were moving in the same direction but have not so far declared themselves.
"Only France will have to be dragged to the negotiating table," Eppink said.