WSJ: Clegg attacks Cameron over EU

01 November 2012

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said Prime Minister David Cameron's plan to wrestle back powers from the European Union was a false promise that could result in the UK leaving the bloc, the latest salvo in an increasingly acrimonious debate within the governing coalition about European policy.

Mr Clegg, the leader of the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats, also set himself on a collision course with many members of Mr Cameron's traditionally eurosceptic Conservative party by saying the best the government could achieve in negotiations over the next multi-year EU budget was a real-terms freeze.

Mr Clegg added to the difficulty Mr Cameron is experiencing over his Europe policy, attacking the prime minister's plan to repatriate powers the UK has ceded to Brussels over the years, and warning the policy could threaten Britain's standing in the EU. The prime minister has repeatedly said he would use the move toward a closer integration of the eurozone to renegotiate the terms of the UK's membership in the EU and to repatriate powers from Brussels.

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