|
|
British "eurosceptics" are hoping this will be an opportunity to claw back powers from Brussels - and to avoid getting further entangled in costly solutions to the eurozone crisis.
"There is a feeling that basically the UK is dispensing itself from what especially the eurozone is doing, and pushing for far more integration in the eurozone - as long as it doesn't touch the UK. So basically there might be a sense of annoyance coming from the French side", said Vivien Pertusot, Head of the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI) in Brussels. He added that relations between the UK government and François Hollande's administration had so far been "cordial".
However, James Elles, a long-standing British Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP), pointed to the fact that Cameron's comments were made in the specific context of the Conservative Party conference - where a significant proportion of delegates are hostile to the EU.