Downing Street has insisted that David Cameron’s EU renegotiation demands are still on track, after a draft communique of the European council’s conclusions simply said leaders would “revert to the matter in December”.
The draft council conclusions made no mention of any official, technical discussions that Cameron hopes will start after he has presented his plans for EU reform to his fellow leaders at dinner.
The brief line on the subject reads: “UK PM set out his plans for an (in/out) referendum in the UK. European council agreed to revert to the matter in December.”
However, Cameron’s official spokeswoman said what mattered was getting an agreement in principle for the technical talks on reforms to start before the summer.
“I’m not going to get into commenting on draft communiques,” she said. “There are normally several iterations of council conclusions before they are finalised. We’ve been clear what our objectives are, which is to make sure that following the summit work is kicked off on technical work on UK renegotiations ... You’ll need to wait for the final version of the conclusions.
“What matters for us is the substance and that technical work gets under way before the summer. What matters is that agreement.”
She also pointed to the fact that the European commission has now appointed a new “taskforce” dedicated to Britain’s demands for reform, headed by the UK’s most experienced Brussels official, Jonathan Faull. It is possible Donald Tusk, president of the council, could be tasked with running the renegotiations overall.
The draft agenda for the summit gives details on the first three items, but the fourth is simply listed as “UK”.
At the end of dinner, Tusk, the meeting’s chair, will give Cameron the floor and ask him to outline if, and on what terms, Britain wants to stay in the union, when the vote will take place, and what procedures should precede it.
Asked whether the brief draft conclusions and the fact that Cameron was only getting a slot over coffee meant the matter was very low down the list of priorities, the spokeswoman said it was clear the UK’s reforms were on the agenda.
Cameron has now spoken to 23 of the EU’s other 27 leaders about his hopes for reform, which include restricting benefits for new migrants for four years and exempting the UK from “ever closer union” within the EU.
Pressed on whether he would bring up the need for treaty change – a key demand of Cameron’s eurosceptic backbenchers – his spokeswoman said: “We should wait for the dinner. He has already talked to up to 23 leaders and he will have done 27 so all the leaders sat round the table will know about the issues the prime minister wants to address and as we’ve also said there is quite a busy agenda. What matters is the work that follows. I’m sure leaders will return to the issue in the future.”
