04 December 2014

European Voice: The wrong time for serious debate on the UK’s future

Donald Tusk, when he was chosen as the president of the European Council three months ago, made clear that he regarded the United Kingdom’s relationship with the European Union as an issue of critical importance to the future of the Union. This week Tusk took office as president, but he would be quite wrong to make any early attempt to address the problem.

As George Osborne, the UK’s finance minister, made quite clear yesterday, in both the content and style of a declaration about tax and spending plans, the country is already in the grip of election campaigning, though the election is due until May.

David Cameron’s speech last week, in which he set out his views on immigration, and appeared to be be making demands of the EU, should be viewed in that light. This too was primarily a piece of electioneering. Cameron has to face down the challenge of the UK Independence Party, which is riding high in the opinion polls, and is winning support with its anti-immigration rhetoric.

For domestic political purposes, Cameron wishes to give the impression that he is confronting the EU on migration and with an insistance on rule changes. Partly he does so because he has already raised expectations of such a confrontation. He and his ministerial colleagues have previously floated ideas such as a cap on migration and demanding limits on the EU’s free movement of persons.

Thankfully, Cameron has seen – or been persuaded of – the folly of such a course: setting himself up for a bruising confrontation with most other member states, not least Germany, whose chancellor, Angela Merkel, has ruled out a change to the freedom of movement rules. Instead, he has switched his attention to the benefits that (low-paid) workers in the UK can enjoy.

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