The law of the land will require that there must be a referendum on our EU membership by the end of 2017.
The re-negotiation is now entering its formal phase, following several rounds of technical discussions.
Today I am writing to the President of the European Council setting out how I want to address the concerns of the British people…
…and why I believe that the changes that Britain is seeking will benefit not just Britain, but the EU as a whole. [...]
Four major challenges facing the European Union
In my Bloomberg speech almost 3 years ago, I said that the European Union faced 3 major challenges.
First, the problems in the Eurozone: they need to be fixed – and that will require fundamental changes.
Second, a crisis of European competitiveness, as other nations across the world soar ahead and Europe risks being left behind.
And third, a gap between the EU and its citizens which has grown dramatically in recent years…
…and which represents a lack of democratic accountability and consent that is felt particularly acutely in Britain.
These 3 challenges are as critical now as they were when I first set them out.
And today I would add a fourth.
As we have seen so spectacularly across Europe with the questions posed by the migration crisis…
…countries need greater controls to manage the pressures of people coming in.
And while in Britain we are not part of the Schengen open borders agreement and so we have been able to set our own approach by taking refugees direct from the camps…
…we do need some additional measures to address wider abuses of the right to free movement within Europe…
…and to reduce the very high flow of people coming to Britain from all across Europe.
So the changes we are arguing for are substantial. [...]
Economic governance and the Eurozone
[...]So non-Euro members like Britain which are outside the Eurozone need certain safeguards…
….in order to protect the single market and our ability to decide its rules…
…and to ensure that we face neither discrimination nor additional costs from the integration of the Eurozone. [...]
So as part of our renegotiation I am asking European leaders to agree clear and binding principles that protect Britain and other non-Euro countries…
…and a safeguard mechanism to ensure these principles are respected and enforced.
These principles should include the following. Recognition that the EU is a Union with more than one currency.
There should be no discrimination and no disadvantage for any business on the basis of the currency of their country.
The integrity of the single market must be protected.
As the Eurozone moves ahead, any changes it decides to make – like the creation of a banking union – must be voluntary for non-Euro countries, never compulsory.
Taxpayers in non-euro countries should never bear the cost for operations to support the Euro as a currency.
Just as financial stability and supervision has become a key area of competence for Eurozone institutions like the ECB…
…so financial stability and supervision is a key area of competence for national institutions like the Bank of England for non-Euro members.
And any issues that affect all member states must be discussed and decided by all member states.
Competitiveness
Second, we want a European Union that adds to our competitiveness, not detracts from it. [...]
So we need a target to cut the total burden on business
And at the same time, we need to bring together all the different proposals, promises and agreements on the single market, on trade, and on cutting regulation…
…into one clear commitment that writes competitiveness into the DNA of the whole European Union.
Sovereignty and subsidiarity
[...]…I am asking European leaders for a clear, legally binding and irreversible agreement to end Britain’s obligation to work towards an ever closer union. [...]
We also need to address the issue of subsidiarity – the question of what is best decided in Brussels and what is best dealt with in European capitals. [...]
In addition, the UK will need confirmation that the EU institutions will fully respect the purpose behind the justice and home affairs protocols in any future proposals dealing with justice and home affairs matters…
…in particular to preserve the UK’s ability to choose to participate.
In addition national security is – and must remain – the sole responsibility of member states… [...]
Finally, in this area, people are also frustrated by some legal judgments made in Europe that impact on life in Britain. [...]
So we will reform our relationship with the ECHR by scrapping Labour’s Human Rights Act and introducing a new British Bill of Rights.
We will – of course – consult on how to make this big constitutional change. [...]
And as we reform the relationship between our courts and Strasbourg,…
…it is right that we also consider the role of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. [...]
Immigration
Fourth, we believe in an open economy. But we’ve got to be able to cope with all the pressures that free movement can bring – on our schools, our hospitals and our public services. [...]
That means first of all correcting the mistakes of the past by ensuring that when new countries are admitted to the EU in the future…
…free movement will not apply to those new members until their economies have converged much more closely with existing member states.
Next, we need to create the toughest possible system for dealing with abuse of free movement.
As I have said previously, we can do this by reducing the draw that our welfare system can exert across Europe. [...]
So I promised 4 actions at the election.
Two have already been achieved.
EU migrants will not be able to claim Universal Credit while looking for work.
And if those coming from the EU haven’t found work within 6 months, they can be required to leave.
But we need to go further to reduce the numbers coming here.
So we have proposed that people coming to Britain from the EU must live here and contribute for 4 years before they qualify for in work benefits or social housing.
And that we should end the practice of sending child benefit overseas. [...]
The 4 objectives
So these are the 4 objectives at the heart of our renegotiation.
Objective 1: protect the single market for Britain and others outside the Eurozone.
What I mean by that is a set of binding principles that guarantee fairness between Euro and non-Euro countries.
Objective 2: write competitiveness into the DNA of the whole European Union.
And this includes cutting the total burden on business.
Objective 3: exempt Britain from an ‘ever closer union’ and bolster national parliaments.
Not through warm words but through legally binding and irreversible changes.
And objective 4: tackle abuses of the right to free movement, and enable us to control migration from the European Union, in line with our manifesto.
The precise form all these changes will take will be a matter for the renegotiation.
But I want to be very clear: if we are able to reach agreement, it must be on a basis that is legally-binding and irreversible…
…and where necessary has force in the Treaties.
The negotiation
[...]…I will campaign to keep Britain inside a reformed European Union…
…I’ll campaign for it with all my heart and all my soul,…
…because that will be unambiguously in our national interest.
But if we can’t reach such an agreement,…
…and if Britain’s concerns were to be met with a deaf ear, which I do not believe will happen…
…then we will have to think again about whether this European Union is right for us.
As I have said before – I rule nothing out. [...]
Britain’s future
[..]The question is whether we would be more successful in than out?
Whether being in the European Union adds to our economic security or detracts from it?
Whether being in the European Union makes us safer or less safe?
That is a matter of judgment.
And ultimately it will be the judgment of the British people in the referendum that I promised and that I will deliver. [...]
If we vote to leave, then we will leave.
There will not be another renegotiation and another referendum. [...]
Letter sent by British PM David Cameron to European Council President Donald Tusk
Full speech in The Spectator
Video of the speech
© Chatham House