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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Matthew Weaver, Ben Quinn and Claire Phipps

EU summit: 'a lot still to be done' on UK deal, says Tusk – as it happened

David Cameron: I’m battling for Britain to get a good EU deal – video

I’m wrapping up this live blog now but fresh coverage continues over here.

Thanks for reading and for your comments.

David Cameron has exited – temporarily, Brexit fans! – the talks with Tusk and Juncker. I think we can forgive him for not looking relaxed at 5.30am on zero sleep.

He’ll reportedly be back for talks at 9am CET.

Updated

What we know so far

As day one of the summit ticks over into day two with barely a chance for a snooze, here are the latest developments:

  • Donald Tusk, president of the European Council and a key broker of any potential UK deal, said the negotiations were moving ahead slowly:

We have made some progress but a lot still remains to be done.

  • Tusk spoke ahead of a series of bilateral talks, including with British prime minister David Cameron, which went late into the night in Brussels.
  • Talks were said to be sticking on a number of key points, including the duration of the so-called emergency brake to restrict in-work benefits for EU migrants in the UK; curbs on child benefit for EU migrants whose children are not in the UK; and potential treaty changes to exempt formally the UK from the goal of “ever-closer union” and to underpin protections for non-eurozone members.
David Cameron and Angela Merkel at the Brussels summit.
David Cameron and Angela Merkel at the Brussels summit. Photograph: Isopix/REX/Shutterstock
  • Full discussions between the leaders are due to resume at 11am CET (10am GMT), although earlier spin-off talks are mooted to include a meeting between Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s François Hollande and Greece’s Alexis Tsipras at 10am CET.
  • Leaders offered differing verdicts on any hope of a deal, with Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi saying he was “less optimistic” than he had been. Finnish PM Juha Sipilä suggested an agreement would be struck by Friday, echoing Spain’s Mariano Rajoy, who said things were “going well”. But Dutch PM Mark Rutte raised the possibility of talks on a UK deal running into Saturday.
  • Agreement was reached – after a dinner lasting five-and-a-half hours – on a rescheduled meeting between EU leaders and Turkey, pencilled in for 5 March, to address the ongoing migration crisis.
  • Merkel said the migration talks were the “priority” for the summit:

The important statement for me today is that we have not only reaffirmed the EU-Turkey action plan, but we have said it is our priority.

  • Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Cameron was acting “rather like Oliver Twist”:

He has come along with his begging bowl, saying please sir, can we have more concessions? Most of what you are seeing here is theatre. It’s theatre from Mr Cameron and it’s theatre from the other leaders.

Updated

5am in Brussels. I’m not sure whether this now counts as day one or day two. But Cameron appears to have returned to the table with Tusk and Juncker:

The Czech minister for European affairs, Tomáš Prouza, has called it a night:

It’s not over yet, though: Tusk and Juncker are reportedly now in a bilateral meeting with Belgian PM Charles Michel.

Deliberately or not, EU leaders have ensured that the key lines to come out of the summit at the end of day one concern migration, rather than Britain’s demand for a new deal:

European Union leaders threw their weight behind efforts to work with Turkey to limit the flow of refugees to Europe, with German chancellor Angela Merkel labelling it a priority in an announcement early on Friday.

“The important statement for me today is that we have not only reaffirmed the EU-Turkey action plan, but we have said it is our priority,” Merkel said of the plan to address migration and border controls.

Merkel noted Austria backed the plan, despite its unilateral decision to introduce daily caps on migrants. “In Europe we are all always partners,” she said.

The European Council president, Donald Tusk, earlier announced the postponed extraordinary summit with Turkey would now be held probably in early March.

The “joint action plan with Turkey remains a priority and we must do all we can to succeed”, he said.

Good news for fans of exceedingly drawn-out negotiations and days-long live blogs: Dutch PM Mark Rutte says the talks on a UK deal might run into Saturday:

The full text of the European council conclusions on migration is now available here.

Some key lines:

  • “The objective must be to rapidly stem the flows, protect our external borders, reduce illegal migration and safeguard the integrity of the Schengen area.”
  • “The flows of migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey remain much too high. We need to see a substantial and sustainable reduction of the number of illegal entries from Turkey into the EU.”
  • “Humanitarian assistance should continue to be provided to Syrian refugees and to the countries neighbouring Syria. This is an urgent global responsibility.”
  • “We need to get back to a situation where all Members of the Schengen area apply fully the Schengen borders code and refuse entry at external borders to third-country nationals who do not satisfy the entry conditions or who have not made an asylum application despite having had the opportunity to do so.”

Angela Merkel has held a press conference in which she discussed the agreement among EU leaders to meet with Turkey in March in a further attempt to resolve Europe’s migration crisis:

The important statement for me today is that we have not only reaffirmed the EU-Turkey action plan, but we have said it is our priority.

Merkel said Austria backed the EU-Turkey plan, despite its unilateral decision to introduce daily caps on migrants:

In Europe we are all always partners.

You can read more on the Austrian plan to introduce a daily limit of 80 asylum claims here:

David Cameron’s meeting with Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker continues – we don’t know what they’re saying but the body language is interesting enough:

David Cameron (right), with European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.
David Cameron (right), with European Council president Donald Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

It also looks likely that German chancellor Angela Merkel and French president François Hollande will meet separately – though reportedly not until the more civilised hour of 10am Friday.

Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy doesn’t share his Italian counterpart’s pessimism on the UK/EU talks:

I think it is going well. I hope that tomorrow we will have a deal.

Updated

EU-Turkey migration summit on 5 March

Some more details on what is, so far, the only breakthrough of the evening: a special summit between EU leaders and Turkey to attempt to resolve the migration crisis.

Reuters reports that the meeting has been pencilled in for 5 March.

Turkish PM Ahmet Davutoglu is not in Brussels, following Wednesday’s bomb attack in Ankara.

The Irish taoiseach, Enda Kenny, also indicates that not everyone is heading to bed just yet:

Renzi 'less optimistic' about UK deal

Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi said he was less optimistic than before about a European Union deal on new membership terms for Britain after some backward steps occurred on the first day of an EU summit, Reuters reports.

Speaking to reporters early on Friday after hours of summit debate on Britain’s reform demands and the EU’s migration crisis, Renzi said there had been “some timid steps forward on migration, some steps back on a UK deal”.

Asked whether he still believed a deal with Britain would be possible on Friday, he said:

I’m always confident, but a bit less optimistic than when I arrived.

2.45am Friday, to be precise … Strong coffee to follow.

Tusk will move on to talks with British prime minister David Cameron, French president François Hollande, Czech PM Bohuslav Sobotka and Belgian PM Charles Michel on Friday:

Updated

'A lot still to be done' on UK deal, says Tusk

On the UK deal negotiations, Tusk adds:

For now I can only say that we have made some progress but a lot still remains to be done.

He doesn’t take questions from waiting reporters but tells them:

Thank you and I wish you a good and long night.

Juncker doesn’t speak about the UK talks.

Donald Tusk says the EU leaders have agreed conclusions on migration.

An action plan with Turkey remains the priority, and a meeting should take place in March.

Our discussion in this critical moment of the migration crisis has only reinforced our commitment to building a European consensus.

On migration, there is no good alternative to a comprehensive European plan. We must look for a synthesis of different approaches.

A European solution on migration is about decisions taken in capitals but we must improve the coordination of those decisions.

We need to get back to a situation where all members of the Schengen area fully apply the Schengen borders code.

We are about to hear from Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker on the talks on Europe’s migration crisis, which have just concluded over dinner.

Juha Sipilä, prime minister of Finland, is off to bed, it appears.

A rough translation (please excuse – or better still, correct, my Google-Finnish, below the line or @Claire_Phipps):

The European Council debate on migration is coming to an end.

Then UK negotiations continue.

The project should be ready by morning [I’m assuming he means some kind of deal].

And if you were wondering what delicacies kept the leaders at the dinner table for five-and-a-half hours, it was avocado and shrimp “imparfait” (no idea, sorry), cod loin with wheat beer emulsion, and mango mousse.

The leaders’ dinner is – after five-and-a-half hours – apparently wrapping up now.

Discussion there has centred on the wider European migration crisis. Bilateral talks on the UK deal are now set to resume. It’s just after 2am in Brussels.

Word from the Czech European affairs minister Tomáš Prouza from Brussels sounds rather less than enthusiastic:

The Guardian’s Nicholas Watt sends this dispatch from Brussels:

Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament, has indicated that the parliament is prepared to fight British plans to impose restrictions on in-work benefits for EU migrants on the grounds they are discriminatory.

In a speech to the European Council, in which he warned that Britain would “drift into the insignificant backwaters of the world political scene” if it left the EU, Schulz said Britain was planning to discriminate between EU citizens.

Schulz highlighted the way in which EU migrants could receive different rates of pay for the same job under an emergency brake offered by the European Commission. The brake would allow Britain to deny in-work benefits during an EU migrant’s first year in Britain and then to introduce them gradually over the next three years.

Schulz told EU leaders:

This ‘safeguard mechanism’ would mean that two workers, both EU nationals, paying the same taxes, doing the same work, would for a certain time not be paid the same. Allow me to say this very clearly: the European Parliament will fight discrimination between EU citizens. Non-discrimination and equal treatment are fundamental principles of our union.

Martin Schulz arrives at the EU summit in Brussels.
Martin Schulz arrives at the EU summit in Brussels. Photograph: Julien Warnand/EPA

If a deal is reached among EU leaders, the European parliament would have to approve the secondary legislation needed to put the emergency brake on a legal footing.

Schulz also used his speech to warn of the dangers of a British exit from the EU:

If we Europeans part ways, labouring under the fond illusion that, now of all times, the finest hour of the nation state has arrived, we should make no mistake about the consequences. We will be left to drift into the insignificant backwaters of the world political scene.

A spokesman for Vote Leave said:

Schulz had let the cat out of the bag over what the EU really thinks about the renegotiation. With David Cameron’s deal having the legal weight of an unsigned contract the agreement will be quickly ignored or overridden. That makes voting remain on the basis of this deal a huge risk.

For those readers champing to hear news of the next round of bilateral talks, due to be happening right around now … patience is advised:

What are the sticking points?

Reports from Brussels suggest talks on migration are proving particularly difficult to reach agreement.

But this is just one of four key questions that need to be thrashed out:

Emergency brake

How long could Britain impose the emergency brake to restrict in-work benefits for EU migrants in the UK? This has been complicated by questions over whether other member countries might want to adopt the scheme.

Curbs on benefits

There is disagreement – particularly from Poland – over UK efforts to restrict child benefit paid to EU workers within the UK whose children live in their home country. Also a bone of contention is whether any curbs should be applied retrospectively to EU migrants already in the UK.

‘Ever-closer union’

Britain wants a treaty change to formalise the UK’s exemption from the EU’s founding declaration to forge an ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe. Some countries think the formal opt-out should be sufficient.

Financial regulation

The UK seeks a further treaty change to underpin protections for non-eurozone members in the single market – opposed by France, which is said to see the move as a restriction on the eurozone and “special protection” for the City of London.

While we wait (and wait) for progress in the crunch talks, why not try our massively scientific and conclusive quiz to discover how EU you really are:

Launch of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, Berlin, Germany - 09 Feb 2016Mandatory Credit: Photo by Action Press/REX/Shutterstock (5585465h) Caroline Lucas Launch of the Democracy in Europe Movement 2025, Berlin, Germany - 09 Feb 2016

Caroline Lucas, the UK Green party MP, says the forthcoming referendum on UK membership of the EU “should kickstart a movement in Britain to make membership of the European Union work even better for all of us”.

She also called for EU meetings to be more transparent and (a request echoed by live bloggers everywhere) for council meetings to be live streamed.

Lucas said:

Though I’m a strong supporter of the EU I do believe it should be more democratic and transparent.

These negotiations – which are being conducted behind closed doors in Brussels and through tactical press briefings – aren’t a good advert for the EU.

EU Council meetings should be live streamed and open for Europeans to watch – thus ensuring that the politicians who represent us are also accountable to us.

Updated

Hello, this is Claire Phipps picking up the live blog reins from Ben Quinn.

As talks in Brussels tip into Friday morning, European leaders are expected to peel off to their beds within the next few hours. Lawyers and representatives will continue through the night, with full discussions resuming in the morning – though it could be as late as 11am CET (10am GMT) before the leaders are back round the table.

But the sense still seems to be that a deal this weekend is the preferred option over an inconclusive outcome and a further summit in the next few weeks. So … watch this space.

Ukip leader Nigel Farage has popped up on BBC Newsnight, with a Brussels backdrop behind him and a caricature of David Cameron in mind.

“He’s rather like Oliver Twist. He has come along with his begging bowl , saying: ‘please sir, can we have more concessions?’ ” said Farage.

“Most of what you are seeing here is theatre. It’s theatre from Mr Cameron and it’s theatre from the other leaders,” added Farage, who predicted that an agreement would be presented earlier tomorrow.

Nigel Farage, leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, gives interviews ahead of a European Union leaders summit in Brussels.
Ukip leader Nigel Farage. Photograph: Yves Herman/Reuters

Updated

Here’s a summary of how things stand at the moment:

• David Cameron embarked on the biggest gamble of his premiership on Thursday evening, as he sought to put Britain’s place in Europe on a permanently new footing at an EU summit in Brussels.
If he failed to strike an agreement at the meeting of 28 heads of government that was expected to run through the night, he would not be given a second chance, EU leaders warned Britain.

• The European council president, Donald Tusk, described the summit as “make-or-break summit.” According to a leaked version of the draft deal seen by the Guardian, differences are widening rather than narrowing, with UK desire for treaty change on a key economic issue now confined to square brackets, the device used in international negotiations to show there is no agreement on the issue.

• In the first session of talks on Thursday evening in Brussels, Britain made a “surprise” bid to extend the proposed “emergency brake” on welfare payments to non-British citizens for a total of 13 years, according to a report by the news agency Bloomberg.
The period requested is longer than had originally been proposed, and leaders from eastern European nations said they would accept an emergency brake lasting no more than five years.

• Jeremy Corbyn has attacked David Cameron’s emergency brake on migrant benefits as ineffectual, as he branded the whole renegotiation a “theatrical sideshow”.
The Labour leader said there was no evidence that the proposed emergency brake on in-work benefits would have any effect on reducing immigration to the UK.

Updated

Summary

Even with a potentially long night ahead of him, and further talks tomorrow morning, David Cameron has to continue keeping an eye over his shoulder at how his performance is being viewed in his own party.

Here’s one of the Tory party’s most vocal and effective Eurosceptics with some helpful commentary on his leader’s actions in Brussels:

Updated

That earlier report from Bloomberg that Cameron has requested a longer than anticipated ‘emergency brake clause’ (13 years) on the issue of social welfare benefits for some EU workers in Britain is being carried by other outlets now.

It’s going to be a tough one for eastern European and Baltic states in particular to stomach

Updated

Friday’s newspaper front pages are coming in now.

The Guardian splashes on how the Brussels summit has started with several key issues unresolved, and how David Cameron will have “one chance” to strike a deal

The Telegraph leads on the letter from business leaders in Britain who are backing a vote to keep the UK in the EU

The International New York Times makes space for a piece which says that the EU is facing crises which “chip at its ideals” (again?)

The Times splashes on EU leaders letting Britain that he has “one shot” at securing a deal

The Daily Mail’s splash describes events in Brussels as a “shambles” and the deal between the UK and other member states as “watered down”

Updated

A guide to three approximate camps of EU leaders, and where they stand on the UK’s renegotiation attempts, has been put together by the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin.

The awkward squad

Includes:

Beata Szydło, Poland

Leading opposition to benefit changes and other measures that could affect Poles living in the UK. Ready to make some concessions on welfare benefits, but only if there is guarantees that restrictions on child benefit will not copied by other countries and applied to other areas, such as pensions.

Bohuslav Sobotka, Czech Republic

A social democrat, he is less Eurosceptic than some of his predecessors but and is staunchly opposed to UK plans to cut child benefit for children living outside Britain.

François Hollande, France

The president has not made many public interventions into the British debate, but behind the scenes French officials have played a vital role in watering down the British text.

Klaus Werner Iohannis, Romania

A former physics teacher, the president is a stern opponent of treating Romanians in the UK differently to British nationals.


The allies

Includes:

Angela Merkel, Germany

A vital ally. The German chancellor has said she shares Cameron’s view that non-eurozone countries should not be sidelined and that member states should be able to protect their benefits systems.

Enda Kenny, Ireland

Dublin is seeking to ensure that Irish citizens are not included in any emergency brake, to reflect the ancient ties between Britain and Ireland.

Werner Faymann, Austria

The Austrian chancellor is facing calls to introduce a local version of the emergency brake that would allow Vienna to stop paying EU migrants’ benefits.

In the middle

Includes:

Stefan Löfven, Sweden

While Sweden is traditional ally of the UK in the councils of Brussels, its centre-left government is wary that some of British proposals on cutting red tape could weaken employment rights.

Nicos Anastasiades, Cyprus

Cyprus has to trade off its role as a traditional British ally, against multibillion-euro bailouts it has received as a member of the eurozone.

Joseph Muscat, Malta

Another small country. The island of Malta has the smallest population in the EU, with just 429,000 people, which makes it smaller than Manchester, but still a player at EU summits.

Updated

ITV’s political editor Robert Peston has reiterated – as reported by the Guardian earlier – that EU leaders are preparing to state that there would be no fresh negotiations about membership if the UK votes to leave the union.

It’s believed David Cameron will not object to this “the deal is the deal” statement in the summit text.

Peston adds:

It is in the prime minister’s interest of course for the referendum stakes to be – if not life or death – well unambiguously about whether we stay or go.

His best chance of winning the vote is to persuade us that it really really will decide whether we stay or remain.

European leaders assemble for the customary ‘family photo’ ahead of talks in Brussels on Thursday.

Updated

The disclosure before the crucial European Union summit that the number of citizens of other EU countries working in Britain had risen above the 2 million mark for the last six months was widely reported as bad news for David Cameron.

The Guardian’s home affairs editor, Alan Travis, writes, however, that behind unfounded headlines about “EU migrants grabbing British jobs” lies a basic truth: that mass European migration is actually fuelling the relative growth of the UK economy that in turn is making Britain “the jobs factory of Europe”.

For while some politicians chose only to focus on the growth of EU citizens employed in Britain, they ignored the fact that the same set of official statistics – the quarterly labour market survey – showed that record numbers of British citizens were in work too.

Indeed, 1 million more Britons are in work and 850,000 more Europeans are working in Britain since David Cameron became prime minister.

The fact of the matter is that the story of EU migration to work in Britain should not be seen as a sudden, recent mass invasion to be necessarily feared by every British worker. It is now a fact of life that Britain has been a country of net mass migration every year for the past 20 years

Read on here

Updated

The talks among leaders about migration is likely to be a short one, according to the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin.

Attempts to stave off a Brexit, it seems, are taking taking priority tonight

Microphones, eh? Spain’s prime minister, Mariano Rajo, was picked up telling David Cameron that the most likely date for new elections in dead-locked Spain is 26 June.

“Like my referendum,” replies Cameron, while Rajoy laughs: “the same day”

(courtesy of Pablo Rodríguez of El Mundo)

Updated

Britain made a “surprise” bid to extend the proposed “emergency brake” on welfare payments to non-British citizens for a total of 13 years, according to a report by the news agency Bloomberg.

It adds:

He asked for an initial suspension of seven years that could be lengthened twice by another three years each, said European officiers, asking not to be named because the talks are private.

The period Cameron requested is longer than had originally been proposed, and leaders from eastern European nations said they would accept an emergency brake lasting no more than five years.

Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (L) talks with Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron during the EU summit meeting.
Greece’s prime minister Alexis Tsipras with Britain’s prime minister David Cameron during the EU summit meeting. Photograph: Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images

The off the record briefings are getting out of hand meanwhile:

Updated

The Guardian’s Nick Watt reports that the prime minister was due to have a late night bilateral meeting with the European council president Donald Tusk to demand movement in the five areas where there are still disagreements.

Cameron expressed irritation that the Britain has given ground on child benefit, which he had hoped to abolish for EU migrants, by saying that it would be paid at a migrant’s home rate.

A failure to reach a deal would mean that EU leaders would probably reconvene in the next ten days to ensure a referendum can be held by 23 June.

But No 10 may be seeking to portray the prime minister as isolated and battling for Britain to allow him to hail a deal on Friday as an historic victory.

If a deal is secured he will fly back to London after a Brussels press conference to chair a cabinet meeting where he will say the government will formally endorse the deal.

But the meeting will also lead to the suspension of collective cabinet responsibility, allowing at least five cabinet ministers to campaign for a no vote.

Updated

No 10: Cameron prepared to 'walk away'

David Cameron warned EU leaders that he would walk away from the summit without a deal on Friday if they failed to give ground on a series of fronts and allow him to present a “credible” set of reforms to the British people.

That’s according to briefings from the British side. In what were described as ill-tempered exchanges at the formal opening of the summit, the prime minister told European leaders that they need to match supportive rhetoric in favour of British membership of the EU with action to meet his needs.

A No 10 source said:

The going is tough. This could be a long night. Many countries were saying that they want to help and make sure they keep Britain in the EU. But there was not much sign of that.

The prime minister left the council in no doubt: we will only reach an agreement if it meets our requirements.

If we can’t we are not going to get an agreement at this summit.

Updated

So after they digest their mango mousse and caramelised pineapple, the British delegation will be meeting up for a face to face with the Visegrad-4 group of countries, which comprises Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, and Czech Republic.

Jakub Krupa, UK correspondent for the Polish PAP press agency, tweets:

The V4 group reached a common position on Tuesday rejecting current proposals on curbing child benefits for their migrant workers in western Europe, a key demand in David Cameron’s campaign.

Peter Mandelson, a former Europe commissioner and MP, has been offering David Cameron some advice and says it would have been much better if he had started negotiations a long time ago.

Mandelson has told BBC Newsnight:

In a sense he is trying to achieve too much in too short a time and I think that the deal he will get, if it’s anything like that originally outlined, will be relevant, useful and eminently understandable to the British people, but I think more importantly it has to become a platform for a continuous process of reform.

Updated

More suggestions coming now about the road ahead. No major progress has been made in the first session of talks this evening, which means the leaders will go into dinner to talk about the migration crisis.

David Cameron and Donald Tusk will then hold a bilateral to plot a way forward, while Tusk himself is expected to hold a press conference at midnight.

Updated

The haggling is on, with much of the disagreement centred around how long restrictions on benefits sought should last for, according to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg.

Danny Kemp of AFP has more detail on the current state of play:

Isabel Hardman of the Spectator has more:

Updated

Food is central to the whole thing apparently. The deal will be finalised over brunch tomorrow, according to the Daily Mail’s John Stevens.

It was’t an à la carte menu, but as it happens, that’s a phrase now being bandied around a bit on the fringes of negotiations to describe how some states are sniffing around to see if they can have slices of the British reform proposals for themselves.

Gary Gibbons of Channel 4 News says that the proposed changes to child benefit, effectively cuts in the payments for migrant EU workers in Britain who leave their offspring at home, are being eyed up by states such as France, the Netherlands and Germany.

Never mind the future of the European experiment though..

Some more now on Cameron’s address to fellow EU leaders earlier, who were told that he hoped the negotiations would be credible enough to allow him to settle Britain’s troubled relationship with the EU.

He said:

The question of Britain’s place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too long.. . It is time to deal with it.

If we can reach agreement here that is strong enough to persuade the British people to support the UK in membership of the EU then we have an opportunity to settle this issue for a generation.

It is an opportunity to move to a fundamentally different approach in our relationship with the EU, what some might call live and let live, reflecting that those states who wish to integrate further can do so while those of us that don’t can be reassured that their interests will be protected, and will not need to fight these at every turn on a case by case, event by event issue.

The prime minister has longer than many might think to get his renegotiation and still deliver a June 23 EU referendum in the UK, according to the Telegraph’s chief political correspondent, Chris Hope, who adds:

Cameron: A chance to settle UK-EU relationship for a generation

David Cameron has told fellow European leaders that the Brussels summit presents an opportunity to settle Britain’s troubled relationship with the EU for a generation after claiming the issue has been allowed to “fester for too long”.

The Guardian’s team in Brussels report on the prime minister’s address to the formal opening session of the summit, which was told that he hoped to create a “live and let live” approach in which the likes of the UK can remain full members of the EU while standing back from moves towards greater integration.

Cameron, who also warned the EU’s other 27 leaders that they must agree to credible changes to allow him to win a referendum, spoke as Britain signalled its support for a plan to make clear that the summit will offer a make or break deal to the UK that cannot be reversed.

British officials also said they were interested in the proposal, drawn up by the Belgians and supported by the French, that would make clear that Britain could not seek to renegotiate the terms of its EU membership if it votes to leave in the referendum.

The Franco-Belgian plan, which echoes a warning by the prime minister last year, is designed to kill of a plan by the Vote Leave campaign director, Dominic Cummings, to argue that a second referendum could be held after two years of negotiations if the UK votes to leave.

Slovakia Prime Minister Robert Fico (L) British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels today.
Slovakia’s Robert Fico (L), David Cameron and German chancellor Angela Merkel in Brussels. Photograph: ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock/Zuma Wire/REX/Shutterstock

Updated

In Berlin, the Guardian’s Philip Oltermann reports that while David Cameron may have been piling on the martial metaphors as he arrives in Brussels, the German perspective sees the battle as being elsewhere.

Most of the papers here write about tonight’s meeting as a showdown over the refugee crisis.

Bestselling tabloid Bild has to remind its readers that Britain’s demands are also on the agenda, “in the shadow of this refugee summit”. It warns that the risk of the summit failing to come up with a solution is “considerable”. “It’s quite possible that some countries will at the last minute block the existing compromise”.

Daily Süddeutsche Zeitung hinted at the exasperation some in Germany feel towards the British position, quoting a Brussels bureaucrat who complained that “one single man is threatening to push the entire EU into the abyss”. Many broadcasters have taken the summit as an occasion to remind viewers of the various Extrawurste [umlaut on u] or “extra sausages” – meaning special favours – Britain has already received from the European Union.

But not all coverage of Cameron’s agenda is unsympathetic. Die Welt pointed out that many politicians across Europe have recently come to share British concern about welfare abuse, particularly on child benefits. “Maybe the Brits are the better Europeans after all”, asked the centre-right daily.

Updated

While we’re waiting for some of the real red meat to emerge from this evening’s negotiations in Brussels, here’s a little taste of how the question of a potential Brexit is being discussed in two of Europe’s principal capitals.

In Paris, the pre-eminent voice of the French left used a ‘British’ teabag on its front page today as a metaphor for the UK’s now potentially tenuous connection to the EU.

“Do you want some or not?” Libération asked readers. While the question of a so-called Brexit is set to dominate British politics, airwaves and pub conversations for weeks or even months to come, the paper went on to reflect what could be a growing indifference on the part of Britain’s nearest neighbours on the continent.

Suggesting that many of its readers might give little more than a Gallic shrug were British voters to opt to leave the European Union, Libération concluded: “If it’s a yes, then good. If it’s a no, too bad…”

It went on to tell readers that France’s “partners” in Britain were preparing to adopt measures that could allow David Cameron to win a future referendum.

Underneath a teabag attached to a Union flag and the blue and yellow flag of the EU, it adds however: “But would a ‘Brexit’ actually be such a disaster?”

Updated

Today’s comments by the leader of the British Labour party, Jeremy Corbyn, have been scrutinised by the New Statesman’s George Eaton, who points out that it’s interesting that he avoids outright condemnation of the government’s plans to limit welfare payments to EU migrants.

While coverage at the weekend suggested that Corbyn would attack the plan as “discriminatory”, it turns out that his assault was much milder than expected.

Eaton says that the Labour leader almost certainly does regard the emergency brake as discriminatory and wrong, “but that he has chosen not to say so is another example of the pragmatism he has intermittently displayed since becoming leader.”

Just to recap, Corbyn was addressing a meeting of the Party of European Socialists in Brussels, where he said the prime minister’s renegotiation agenda was a “missed opportunity” to make the EU better for workers.

However, Corbyn, who has a history of Euroscepticism, has committed his party to campaign to stay in the EU because it offers “investment, jobs and protection for British workers and consumers”.

The “real reforms” needed in Brussels included “an end to austerity”, he said, dismissing the prime minister’s measures to curb benefits for EU workers in the UK, claiming they were “largely irrelevant” to reducing the number of migrants heading to Britain and would not prevent UK citizens having their wages undercut.

Updated

“Bremain” (geddit?) That’s the headline on a resolution adopted today by European parliament’s mainstream centre-right EPP (European People’s party) grouping, which has just been posted online.

Seeking to press a few buttons, it says: “The United Kingdom fought for Europe’s freedom in Europe’s darkest hour. The United Kingdom led again in extending Europe’s frontier of freedom on the fall of the Iron Curtain. Euroe as we know it today would not exist without the United Kingdom and the UK would not be what it is today without Europe.”

It goes on to add though: “The best deal for Britain must be fair to all the European Union member states and to all European citizens. Without discrimination, it myst of course respect the inviolable four freedoms underpinning our union of achievement and values.”

Updated

Schulz say, in his eyes, that the European parliament will have an “enormous impact” on what happens after talks in Brussels this week about a UK - EU deal.

“The core lawmakers in the follow up of the agreement is the European parliament. So therefore I think members of the European parliament express permanently their views.”

We have asked to look at the text and I can assure you that the amendments tabled by the European parliament here during the last two or three weeks have changed or will change considerably tomorrow the draft of Mr [Donald] Tusk.”

That’ll come as quite a shock to the senior parliamentary official who was widely quoted this week as saying: “The parliament can be unpredictable, it can be like monkeys with guns.”

The press conference has ended now.

Updated

Schulz is told by a journalist that there is a lot of criticism in the European parliament about the “modest” role the parliament gets in Brexit. What’s his take on this?

Schulz says members of the parliament are strongly involved and will discuss everything.

“I can’t see why groups in the parliament or groups can’t express their view,” he adds.

Updated

There’s also much focus on the refugee crisis. Schulz links plans on that score with the question over UK membership.

Updated

They’re into questions now. Schulz is told by a journalist that more and more people in the UK are inclining towards voting to leave the UK.

Is it a good idea to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU in the midst of the “biggest crisis” yet faced by the union (an apparent reference towards numbers of people crossing into Europe to flee conflict in Syria and elsewhere).

“The referendum is fixed. I will do the utnost to convince citizens in the UK to vote to stay,” replies Schulz, who adds that the EU is stronger with the UK in it.

Updated

Schulz says that the European parliament has identified three sectors which are of central importance to a UK-EU deal, according to the Open Europe think tank.

The reforms which the UK government has in mind cannot get in the way of further EU integration, he adds, and it is important to be careful that any deal does not “institutionalis” a divide between euro and non euro states.

“We are not a multi-currency union” he states, although it’s fair for the UK to ensure that it doesn’t want to be discriminated aganst as a non euro state in the single market.

Updated

Martin Schulz, the president of the European parliament, is holding press conference, which you can view here.

It’s in German for the moment (a language I lack, sorry), but we’ll bring you some details shortly.

Updated

The doors have been closed on the leaders and senior officials and talks about the UK deal are now underway.

They’re expected to go on until about 8pm or some time after, when they will break for dinner. Talks about refuguees will also come later.

Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, will decide after dinner it’s worth having another UK session. At this stage though, it’s likely that they will at least go into bilateral meetings later on, according to the Guardian’s Jennifer Rankin.

Either way, sounds like it makes sense to stock up on the Red Bull.

Here’s the customary ‘family photo’ which was taken earlier by the way. I know you want to see it..

European Union leaders gather for a group photograph at the Council of the European Union on February 18.
European Union leaders gather for a group photograph at the Council of the European Union on February 18. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Updated

An interesting little encounter between Ukip’s Nigel Farage and Syed Kamall, the most senior Tory MEP in the European parliament (captured by Alex Pigman of AFP)

Kamall, the chairman of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the parliament, admitted on Tuesday that Strasbourg could yet scupper the prime minister’s EU reform plan.

Updated

The mingling is under way, meanwhile. Here’s Cameron with Schulz..

David Cameron, right, speaks with European Parliament President Martin Schultz.
David Cameron, right, speaks with European Parliament President Martin Schultz. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

.. and Cameron with Jean-Claude Juncker.

Jean-Claude Juncker and David Cameron.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and British Prime Minister David Cameron Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

Updated

Aiming squarely at the debate around proposed restrictions to child benefits and in-work benefits of some EU citizens in the UK, he added:

“If this Pandora’s box is opened then we are in Treaty change mode and EP would see fit to convene a Convention,” Schulz also said.

Updated

Here are some interventions, in the last few minutes, by Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament, who has been preparing to speak at the summit in Brussels.

Schulz was the source earlier this week of a set back for David Cameron’s insistence that settlement terms defining a new deal for Britain in the EU must be immediately legally watertight and irreversible.

The German social democrat, who met the prime minister on Tuesday, said that he could not guarantee such a scenario.

Updated

As many as 600,000 Poles already living in the UK must be allowed to retain their access to in-work benefits and child benefit, or else no consensus will be reached on the UK’s renegotiated terms for continued EU membership, according to the foreign policy adviser to the Polish President.

Krzysztof Szczerski was speaking to the Guardian’s Patrick Wintour, who reports as David Cameron begins the detailed negotiations in Brussels that may well turn on whether the so-called British emergency brake temporarily depriving EU migrants of access to in work benefits is seen as an effective way of controlling migration in to the UK.

Szczerski said:

We cannot accept retrospective legislation Those that are in the system and part of the system cannot have their rights taken away.

He also insisted an emergency brake will anyway not have much impact on the flow of migrants to the UK saying:

The Polish people in this country are not benefit seekers.

Nearly 93 % of Poles are either studying or working so they are contributing rather than benefiting from the system.

We have to protect the rights of those already in the system.

The prize for outfit of the summit might already have been scooped by Luxembourg’s Xavier Bettel, who arrived wearing... er.. quite a scarf.

“We count on a common european solution, solidarity must be key principle,” he said.

Luxembourg’s Prime minister Xavier Bettel arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.
Luxembourg’s prime minister Xavier Bettel arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

The debate on the so-called welfare brake won’t take place until tomorrow, according to the Irish taoiseach, Enda Kenny, who hopes that a vote will be called soon after that.

He didn’t want to hang around to talk about a certain other issue, tweets Suzanne Lynch of the Irish Times.

The Irish ambassador to Britain has already said however that his government has held talks with London to ensure that Irish nationals living in Britain are not affected by any restrictions to benefits which may emerge as part of a deal in Brussels this week.

Updated

An nugget from the Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, according to the Brussels deputy bureau chief of Agence France-Presse.

Michel was also asked by journalists if a Brexit was avoidable.

His reply? “Not at any cost, we will need to find the right balance.”

Some photographers snapping leaders arriving at the summit seem to have mistakenly identified Martin Schulz as Michel. One balding, bespectacled western European politician is as good as another it seems.

Updated

The heads of British businesses have been asked to sign a letter endorsing David Cameron’s proposed European Union reform deal, according to a snap tweeted by Sky News.

It’s a tactic which has the Conservatives have run during general election campaigns (perhaps with mixed results) and was also deployed during the referendum campaign on Scottish independence.

For background, we covered a poll four days ago which suggested that almost a third of British and German companies operating in the UK would consider moving jobs out of the country following a vote to leave the European Union.

Updated

A guide to David Cameron’s negotiations “in numbers” has been published by Politics Home.

Here’s a snippet:

  • 10 – The number of leaders that have been invited to the UK for bilaterals
  • 26 (and rising) – How many discussions with the head of the European Commission, European Parliament or European Council the British prime minister has engaged in.
  • 30 – The number of years since the last visit by a British prime minister to Austria before Cameron.
  • 16 – The number of years since the last visit by a British PM to Romania and Bulgaria before Cameron.

And one that the Prime minister may yet come to regret...

  • 0 – How many previous British PMs had been to an independent Slovenia.

Back in the UK, pre-referendum statements and warnings continue to be issued by various groups.

This time it’s the RAC (Royal Automobile Club), which has claimed that two-car families could pay around 8 a month more to fill up their cars if Britain leaves the EU.

The motoring organisation calculated that a 20% fall in the value of sterling - as US banking giant Goldman Sachs has predicted could happen after a Brexit vote - may increase the average price of a litre of petrol by around four pence.

The Press Association reports that the analysis found that this would mean a household with two 55-litre petrol cars refuelling twice a month would spend 232 a month compared to 224 today, based on average prices.

Simon Williams, the RAC’s fuel spokesman, said:

While the RAC has no view on the UK’s membership of the EU, the impact on fuel prices of Britain leaving is not likely to be as dramatic as motorists might be led to think.

While the strength of the pound is a significant factor in the price motorists pay for petrol and diesel due to wholesale fuel being traded in dollars, the oil price is currently a greater influence.

Here’s a glimpse of David Cameron’s home this evening, courtesy of BBC producer Imelda Flattery.

Soon to be covered in post-it notes, document binders ... as well as blood, sweat and tears?

UPDATE / STOP PRESS:

Updated

David Cameron’s negotiations have been described as “largely irrelevant” by the British Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, who is also in Brussels today meeting with fellow European socialists.

Richard Corbett, a Labour MEP who is also a former EU Commission spokesman, has said meanwhile that Corbyn confirmed Labour’s “unequivocal position to stay in EU irrespective of Cameron reforms”.

Donald Tusk has also been speaking in the last few minutes about the state of negotiations, telling journalists: “We are in the middle of still very difficult and sensitive issues on the UK question.”

“One thing is clear to me though. This is a make or break summit.”

Here’s a glimpse of what things look like behind the scenes in (not so smoke-filled) rooms, courtesy of Donald Tusk, the President of the European Council.

The French president, Francois Hollande, has told waiting reporters that an agreement on Britain’s EU membership is possible “because it is necessary”.

He added however, that no country should have a veto right. Europe must not be stopped from “moving forward,” he added, using one of those vague terms EU leaders are fond of using at times like this.

France’s President Francois Hollande speaks to the press as he arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brussels.
French president Françcois Hollande speaks to the press as he arrives at the European Union headquarters in Brussels. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images

Updated

Some more positive initial soundings - from the point of view of British negotiators - now from leaders arriving at the summit.

Lest we regard the negotiations around the UK’s proposed reforms as the only game in town, here’s a reminder of the impact of an other crisis facing the EU.

The European Union’s migration chief warned Austria that its plans to cap migrant numbers would break the bloc’s laws, reports Reuters.

Austria, on the migrant route from Turkey via Greece and the Balkans to Germany, said this week it would let in no more than 3,200 people a day and also cap asylum claims at 80 a day from Friday..

“What the Austrians have decided is not according to European laws,” European Union Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told Reuters.

He said he would send the Austrian government a letter “telling them that what they decided to do is not compatible to the European legislation. The Austrians are obliged to accept asylum applications without putting a cap.”

Around 700,000 migrants, many of them fleeing fighting in Syria, Afghanistan and other conflict zones, entered Austria last year, and about 90,000 of them applied for asylum there.

Children line up as they walk along a border fence after they crossed the Slovenian-Austrian border, near the village of Spielfeld, Austria, on 16 February.
Children line up as they walk along a border fence after they crossed the Slovenian-Austrian border, near the village of Spielfeld, Austria, on February 16. Photograph: Christian Bruna/EPA

Updated

Here’s reminder of the potential struggle which David Cameron will face later today, particularly when it comes to key central and eastern European member states. The Guardian’s Ian Traynor quotes Poland’s prime minister, Beata Szydło:

This is Ben Quinn picking up the baton over from Matt Weaver.

The UK’s attempts to restrict child benefits and in-work benefits for EU migrants is put in context in a blogpost by Bruegel the Brussels-based economic thinktank.

It has dug out House of Commons figures which show that only a tiny fraction (0.26%) of child benefits are paid to EU migrants.

Updated

“Cameron’s pettiness demeans and embarrasses Britain,” writes Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee.

Cameron enters the “in” campaign having spent his entire decade as party leader undermining support for it. He deserves to lose, but we have to hope to God he doesn’t. Under him, Britain has had next to nothing constructive to contribute to the EU’s troubles, riven and immobilised over the migration crisis, and by the euro’s weakness to which austerity was the wrong answer ...

Cameron has even undermined the great reasons for the EU’s existence. Securing democratic freedom was its founding postwar purpose, which explains the hasty eastward enlargement when the Berlin Wall fell. Former communist countries, and Greece, Spain and Portugal, were all embraced, regardless of economic cost. Because the EU is a beacon of decency, the world’s oppressed travel here to this most stable, well-governed zone. But in begging for tiny concessions on benefits, Cameron has grovelled to authoritarian governments in Poland and Hungary who already test the margins of human rights acceptability. His promise of a British bill of human rights would let Hungarians and Poles claim the right to pick and choose their own too.

If Cameron returns triumphant this weekend, award him no laurels. Even if he wins the referendum for “remain”, he will have left both Britain and Europe in a weaker state than when he first aspired to become leader of his country.

Gianni Pittella, the president of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, the second largest political group in the European Parliament, says his bloc will support Britain remaining in the EU but not at the cost of sacrificing its values.

Cameron’s Twitter feed echoed his remarks.

Cameron: 'battling for Britain'

Cameron has arrived at the talks insisting he won’t take agree a deal that “does not meet what we need.”

Speaking to reporters in Brussels he said he would be “battling for Britain”. He added: “ I will not take a deal that does not meet what we need. With good will and hard work, we can get a good deal for Britain.”

BBC journalists have been given guidelines to govern their coverage of the EU referendum in a bid to ensure impartiality, writes Kevin Rawlinson.

They have been told they will be expected to ensure “broad balance” between the two sides of the debate, while also taking into account differing agendas within the same campaign.

They will not be obliged to make sure that the views of the two official campaign groups are given equal exposure at all times, but will be required to focus on “finding ‘broad balance’ between the arguments”.

The guidelines read: “There may be circumstances in which other voices, beyond the formal representatives, are relevant to the arguments: these too should be weighed in terms of the broad balance.”

Jeremy Corbyn has held talks with Labour MEP who he said “want Britain to stay in the EU for jobs and workers rights”.

Note that Corbyn couldn’t bring himself to say that he thinks that too.

He left that to Labour MEP Richard Corbett.

Updated

Tusk: 'make-or-break summit'

European Council president Donald Tusk outlined the seriousness of the talks.

“This is a make-or-break summit, I have no doubt,” he told reporters in Brussels.

If David Cameron does walk away from Brussels with the deal he wanted, it may be largely due to one of the eurocrats the British press takes such joy in rubbishing, writes Philip Olterman in Berlin.

According to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the “man most likely to save Cameron’s skin” is one Jeppe Tranholm-Mikkelsen, who got a masters in international relations from the London School of Economics in 1990.

During the most heated phase of the negotiations, the general secretary at the European Council, a former Danish ambassador in Beijing, emerged as one bureaucrat who could translate Britain’s blustering demands into the appropriate legalese, finding loopholes where others thought they didn’t exist.

When Cameron curtly said there would be no more free benefits, it was Tranholm-Mikkelsen who dived deep into the EU treaties to pull section D2(b) with reference to guideline 492/2011 like a rabbit out of a hat, enabling Britain to curtail benefits for newly arrived EU migrants. “Only a few months ago everyone thought that wouldn’t be possible”, writes Süddeutsche’s EU correspondent Daniel Brössler.

Updated

Jennifer Rankin has helpful jargon buster on the proposed deal.

The emergency brake

What does it mean? The UK could suspend in-work benefits for EU migrants if exceptional numbers put strain on social services.

What does it really mean? The European commission, rather than the British government, would control the brake and it couldn’t be used until EU legislation was amended, which could could take anywhere between 3-12 months - not exactly an emergency.

The euro emergency brake

What does it mean? The UK (or another non eurozone member state) can stop new economic regulations affecting the single currency and force further discussions among EU leaders.

What does it really mean? The eurozone, which 19 countries of the EU 28 have joined, will still be able to outvote non eurozone countries. The eurozone will not give the UK a permanent veto, so this emergency brake does not live up to the name.

The red card

What does it mean? If 55% of national parliaments dislike a new EU law they can show it the red card, banishing the proposal.

What does it really mean? Anyone expecting EU lawmaking to become more like a Chelsea away game should prepare to be disappointed. Governments acting together already have the power to block EU legislation. Legislatures show little interest in using orange and red cards that give them similar powers to force a rethink of EU laws.

Ever-closer union

What does it mean? The EU treaty speaks of an “ever-closer union among the peoples of Europe”.

What does it really mean? The treaty motto is the bane of Eurosceptics, who see a plot to draw the UK into a federal superstate. In fact, ever-closer union already comes with an important caveat agreed by EU leaders in 2014. “The concept of ever closer union allows for different paths of integration for different countries, allowing those that want to deepen integration to move ahead, while respecting the wish of those who do not want to deepen any further.”

Competitiveness

What does it really mean? Boosting competitiveness is the Brussels equivalent of getting behind hardworking families: nobody can be against it.

What does it really mean? The text of the UK deal is vague enough for all EU member states to sign up to - the draft refers to “repealing unnecessary regulation”, (rather than repealing necessary regulation?) and “an ambitious trade policy” (instead of an unambitious one?). Member states will fall out over what competitiveness means in practice, but that is a debate for another day.

Spanish MEP Enrique Calvet Chambon urges European citizens to resist the “blackmail of the United Kingdom” by considering the historic purpose of the European project.

“A more integrated Europe is absolutely indispensable,” he says in a YouTube message.

He also urged Europe not to return to the nationalism of the last century. “You have to get a historical point of view for our future, and not to get small negotiations for political interests in the short term,” Calvet Chambon said.

In an earlier video he said Europe was facing an “emergency moment” in the face of the UK’s “intolerable blackmail”.

Updated

A tale of two cities ... Contrasting BBC voxpops in London and Brussels reveal a stark difference in the level of awareness about Britain’s relationship with Europe.

In one of the cities there was a staggering level of public ignorance. In the another people were willing to talk about the merits of Cameron’s plans to restrict in-work benefits to EU migrants through an emergency brake.

No prizes for guessing which is which.

Brussels ...

London ...

Brussels insiders have not been impressed by Cameron’s attempts at deal making, according to a poll by Politico. The survey of 77 of European and US policymakers, found that 62% rated Cameron’s performance either poor or average.

Only 16% rated Cameron’s deal making good or excellent.

One said: “He seems to think that when he’s at home, no one in Europe hears what he says!”

Politico poll of policymakers

Rowena Mason has more on Lord Kinnock’s comments.

David Cameron’s renegotiation is of seismic importance for the future of the EU as other countries are facing the risk of eurosceptic “contagion” if Britain leaves, Lord Kinnock, the former Labour leader and EU commissioner, has claimed.

The senior Labour figure, who is a prominent campaigner for the UK to remain in the EU, said the summit starting in Brussels on Thursday is a pivotal moment for Britain and the rest of Europe, which needs to contain growing anti-EU feeling in nationalist parties across the continent.

“The effects are seismic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. While the question of Brexit matters primarily for Britain, the deal is also the focus of 27 other democracies for the next two days, he said. “It has also got significance for the rest of the EU and that is the possibility of contagion,” Kinnock added.

“I think particularly the Front National in France and the AfD in Germany and the Polish and Hungarian elements that would like to draw up their own agenda and either partially or wholly withdraw. That is concentrating minds and making people realise the massive implications of completing a deal.”


A French senator has urged Europe not to give into British “blackmail”. Claude Kern, a member of the centre right Union of Democrats and Independents, warned that the European Council was once again being sucked into Brexit.

He said the UK’s “Brexit blackmail” is “unacceptable and reveals the ingratitude of the British.”

In a Facebook posting he asked: “What right does the UK have to tell Europe to give up on our European project?”

Kern said that giving into Britain’s demands would result in the dislocation of the EU.

Juncker confident of a deal

Jean Claude Juncker
Jean Claude Juncker Photograph: Xinhua / Barcroft Media

Jean-Claude Juncker, European Commission president, said he was confident a deal could be reached but conceded that issues remained to be agreed.

Speaking at a press conference in Brussels he said: “I remain quite confident that we will have a deal during this European Council. We have to sort out a certain number of questions. And I’m convinced that Britain will be a constructive and active member of the European Union.”

He added: “We don’t know exactly how things are going to play out. That remains to be seen.”

Updated

Jean-Claude Juncker, European commission president, and Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament are about to give a press conference.

So far Juncker has given nothing away.

On his way to briefing he was asked whether he would take question about what promises to be a tense two or even three-day meeting.

“No, not one,” Juncker said.

You can follow the press conference here.

[Full text]

The Guardian’s Alberto Nardelli is going through the draft of the leaked agreement which includes substantial sections in square brackets showing areas where agreement has still not been reached.

Here’s are some of the key sections in square brackets he has picked out so far:

Proposals on ability of non-Eurozone members to stall financial regulations

[4. The implementation of measures, including the supervision or resolution of financial institutions and markets, and macro-prudential responsibilities, to be taken in view of preserving the financial stability of Member States whose currency is not the euro is, subject to the requirements of group and consolidated supervision and resolution, a matter for their own authorities and own budgetary responsibility, unless such Member States wish to join common mechanisms open to their participation.

This is without prejudice to the development of the single rulebook and to Union mechanisms of macro-prudential oversight for the prevention and mitigation of systemic financial risks in the Union and to the existing powers of the Union institutions and relevant Union bodies to take action that is necessary to respond to threats to financial stability.]

Any mention of revising the Lisbon treaty appears between square brackets

[7. The substance of this Section will be incorporated into the Treaties at the time of their next revision in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Treaties and the respective constitutional requirements of the Member States.]

Full English
Full English
Photograph: Alamy

Donald Tusk has scheduled what aides are calling an “English breakfast” on Friday in hope of a final compromise.

“The negotiations are very advanced and we must make use of the momentum,” he said in an invitation letter to EU leaders.

“There will not be a better time for a compromise.”

The European Council issued a briefing on the summit which included this about Friday’s breakfast:

On Friday morning the heads of state or government will reconvene in an informal working breakfast setting to continue the discussions on a new settlement for the UK in the EU. The President of the European Parliament will be invited to participate in this session.

Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn is also heading to Brussels where he is due to meet members of the Party of European Socialists.

Labour List’s Conor Pope reports speculation that the Corbyn will criticise Cameron’s plans to restrict in-work benefits to EU migrants through an emergency brake.

A word in your shell like. Donald Tusk talks to David Cameron during previous summit in Brussels.
A word in your shell like. Donald Tusk talks to David Cameron during a previous summit in Brussels. Photograph: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP

David Cameron is due to hold more talks with European Council President Donald Tusk hours before the summit proper gets underway.

The meeting with Tusk is scheduled for 3pm CET.

Following a phone call with Tusk late on Wednesday, Cameron insisted there was a “good basis for agreement”, and UK officials said Britain was “in a good place” going into the summit of 28 national leaders in the European Council.

But Tusk warned there was “no guarantee” a deal would be reached.

In an eve-of-summit letter, Tusk told EU leaders: “The negotiations are very advanced and we must make use of the momentum. There will not be a better time for a compromise.”

Failure to reach a deal at the European Council gathering would be “a defeat both for the UK and the European Union, but a geopolitical victory for those who seek to divide us”, he warned.

Updated

Neil Kinnock
Neil Kinnock Photograph: Sarah Lee www.sarahmlee./Sarah Lee

Former Labour leader and EU commissioner, Neil Kinnock, says David Cameron appears to have secured the best deal possible.

Speaking on the Today programme Kinnock said: “He [Cameron] has secured, by dint of using a great deal of energy, pretty much what was possible to be secured. And the value of it is clarification in very important areas in our relationship with the rest of the EU.”

Kinnock said Cameron should learn from Margaret Thatcher’s approach to Europe by lobbying for reform as an active member of EU.

Referring to his former political adversary Kinnock said:

“Her commitment in the European Union was very firm. The commission that she gave to our civil servants inside what was then the European Community was ‘get the best possible deal’. And of course significant deals and changes were secured by means of negotiation strenuously, firmly, fairly from the inside and getting those deals. If it is reform you are after, you are better doing it as a very very engaged partner rather than a potential divorcee.”

Kinnock said it was in Britain’s interests to remain in the EU. “We need them more than they need us,” he said.

And he warned referendum voters not to be sidetracked by the details of the deal being negotiated in Brussels. “The real question is whether those details are so substantial as to propels towards an absolutely unknown uncertain future,” he said.

Cameron faces a crucial 24 hours ahead. Jennifer Rankin in Brussels has a rundown of some of the events. Expecting a long night, she warns.

All timings are local time (subtract an hour for GMT).

11.30am: Jean-Claude Juncker, European commission president, and Martin Schulz, president of the European parliament are due to give a press conference.

4.00pm: Leaders arrive at the summit and may give remarks to reporters.

5.00pm: Summit begins

5.45-8pm: Talks on the UK’s relations with the EU take place

8pm: migration debate over dinner

Late: more UK talks expected. Press conferences could follow.

Friday

9.00am: Leaders are scheduled to arrive. Bilaterals and more UK talks are expected, but Syria and Libya on the official agenda.

Updated

Roberto Gualtieri
Roberto Gualtieri Photograph: Visar Kryeziu/AP

There’s a good chance that the passages marked in square brackets signalling disagreement in the leaked draft text, can been agreed, according Roberto Gualtieri MEP one of the main “sherpas” on the negotiations.

Speaking to the Today programmed he said: “I think there are good chances in general to drop the brackets but of course this is not guaranteed. And that will be a big part of the negotiations.”

He added: “At the highest level there is a awareness that a deal is important.”

Daniel Hannan
Daniel Hannan Photograph: Rex Features

Tory MEP Daniel Hannan dismissed the proposed deal and warned that any changes could be unpicked by the European Parliament in future, PA reports.

The Eurosceptic South East England MEP told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

“I don’t know of any MEPs or Eurocrats in private who think that this is a fundamental change. All of the sound and fury, all of the negotiations, have come down to amending one directive - which we could have done at any time without needing any renegotiation.

“Privately, the Eurocrats were whooping and high-fiving and turning cartwheels because so little has been asked for.”


An unnamed source told The Times that when MEPs begin looking at the deal it could be like “monkeys with guns”, and Hannan said: “They certainly can be simian, occasionally, in their behaviour.

“I think that they will pass this deal, because they will be told to by their party leaders, but they can then un-pass it the following year because it isn’t a constitutional change, it is just one amendment.”

Summary

Welcome to live coverage as David Cameron and a “war room of lawyers” prepare for a crunch summit in Brussels on Britain’s relation with the European Union.

The prime minister insisted there was a “good basis for agreement” but a draft text of the deal leaked to the Guardian reveals he has failed to secure one of his key demands.

European Council president Donald Tusk, who opens the summit at 5.45pm, has also warned there was “no guarantee” a deal would be reached.

Here’s a summary of how things currently stand:

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The Independent UK
‘Im too scared’: Texas woman orders Sausage McGriddles at McDonald’s — only to find teeth fragments in her breakfast
It’s not unusual to have a weird food experience at a food joint in the United States. Sometimes, you may find something missing, while other times you may find something that doesn’t belong. In the case of user @kai_michelle24 on TikTok, who is from Texas, unfortunately, it’s the latter. In…
The Mary Sue
The Mary Sue
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