31 May 2013

Reuters: Britain asks Germany to help lead reform of EU

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague called on Britain and Germany to lead a campaign to reform the European Union, as he explained how the bloc could be overhauled and derided planned EU financial services regulation as "folly".

Mr Hague said he believed that EU states should push to deepen the 27-nation bloc's internal single market in digital, services, and energy, while attempting to conclude "all on-going and potential free trade agreements" with other countries. Britain and Germany should also join other EU states in drawing up a list of burdensome EU regulations on business that could be simplified or scrapped, he added.

"We want to get on with the business of delivering that reformed EU. And here, Britain and Germany must lead the way", Hague told a policy conference in a castle outside Berlin according to a transcript of a speech his office said was subject to minor changes.

"Finding the right balance between integration in Europe for those who need it, and flexibility where it is best for our economies and our democracies, is the great challenge of German and British diplomacy over the next few years."

Hague's intervention follows a promise Cameron gave in January to try to renegotiate Britain's membership of the EU and hold an in/out referendum if he wins the next national election in 2015, a pledge he said was designed to address deep public unease about the EU's far-reaching role in British life.

Hague saved his strongest words for a proposed EU cap on bankers' bonuses and a planned tax on financial transactions. "If we strangle ourselves with regulation that drives away business, you can be sure that Singapore, Dubai and New York will be ready to take advantage of our folly", he said, saying that EU regulation risked setting "our feet in concrete". "If we impose excessive requirements on financial institutions, we throttle businesses' access to lending. If we tax transactions, we make it more expensive for firms to hedge against risks. We end up holding back enterprise in general: not just banking but everything that we make, build or sell."

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Full speech 'Britain and Germany - Partners in Reform' © GOV.UK

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