Cameron urged to re-think pull-out pledge

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has joined 10 other European Union leaders in urging Britain's new Conservative Party leader David Cameron to reconsider his promise to withdraw his party from the European People's Party in the European Parliament.

Their letter to Mr Cameron was revealed yesterday by the French newspaper Le Monde.

According to Le Monde, the group of leaders who signed the letter was led by German chancellor Angela Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. The other signatories were the leaders of Malta, The Netherlands, Greece, Austria, Luxembourg, Slovakia, Slovenia Latvia and European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.

Before being elected as party leader a few months ago, Mr Cameron had promised that if elected he would order his party's MEPs to leave the European People's Party in order to form a new coalition with other European political forces with a more conservative line towards the EU.

However the leaders told Mr Cameron that this move would be a big mistake as it would dilute the strength enjoyed by the UK MEPs in the European Parliament and would send a bad signal to the EU at large.

The EPP is the largest political group in the European Parliament embracing centre-right groups.

Nationalist MEPs form part of the EPP group.