British Prime Minister David Cameron this week pledged to renegotiate parts of the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union in a bid to return certain powers from Brussels to London.
In a widely anticipated speech, Mr Cameron said he will negotiate the changes should the Conservative Party be elected to office in 2015 and he will then put the new membership package to a popular referendum in a straight in-out question.
There is no doubt that Mr Cameron’s bid for a new deal with the EU is an attempt to satisfy the demands of the increasingly assertive Eurosceptic wing of his party.
Yet, while his move will keep the Eurosceptics firmly behind him, and enable him to hold on to his job, he has taken a huge risk, both politically and economically.
Mr Cameron’s EU pledge is bound to lead to a degree of uncertainty within economic circles in Britain and might cause the business sector to think twice before investing in the UK.
His own Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg, the leader of Britain’s Liberal Democrats, remarked: “My view is that years and years of uncertainty because of a protracted, ill-defined renegotiation of our place in Europe is not in the national interest because it hits growth and jobs.”
Mr Cameron is also assuming that the other member states will do whatever it takes to keep Britain in the EU and, therefore, accede to his demands for a repackaged membership.
Even though nobody wants the UK to leave the bloc – both Britain and the EU would definitely lose out if this were the case – it is very doubtful whether the remaining members would agree to the type of widespread changes to Britain’s membership that Mr Cameron is expected to request.
The French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, has already expressed scepticism: “You can’t do Europe à la carte. To take an example, which our British friends will understand, imagine Europe is a football club and you join, once you’re in it you can’t say ‘let’s play rugby’.”
Closer to home, this has echoes of the approach used by the EU when the Labour Party under Alfred Sant had proposed its so-called ‘partnership’ concept as a model for relations with the EU in 2003. The Union had made it clear that one is either a member of the bloc or not.
It is expected that Mr Cameron will, in 2015, try to return powers over justice, policing, employment and social policy regulation to London. Surely, the EU has other priorities to deal with rather than renegotiate Britain’s EU treaties and open up a Pandora’s Box in the process.
What will Mr Cameron do if the EU, as expected, rejects his request? Will he pull Britain out of the EU? Will he still hold an in-out referendum and will he still push for a Yes vote?
While Britain’s demand for protection for non-single currency states in view of the eurozone’s further integration is reasonable and Mr Cameron’s call for the EU to be more accountable and competitive is sensible, these requests do not require treaty change.
Britain should play a leading role from within the EU and it will find many allies, including Malta, that share its views on how Brussels should be reformed. This, however, should be done from within the bloc, not by shouting on the periphery.