European Council President Donald Tusk will table proposals for a “new settlement” for the UK’s membership of the European Union on Tuesday, following a weekend of intense negotiations with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Cameron held two days of talks with EU leaders, culminating in a 24-hour extension from Tusk after a breakthrough regarding the “emergency break” on migrant benefits was reached on Sunday evening.
Tusk tweeted on Monday evening: “Tomorrow around noon I will table proposal for a new settlement for #UKinEU. Good progress last 24 hours but still outstanding issues.”
Cameron is expected to brief his cabinet on Tuesday morning before the negotiations are made public. It will be the first step to a deal, which Cameron hopes to secure before the next European Council meeting in February.
The PM has also been told he must launch a diplomatic offensive over the next two weeks to ensure that Eastern European leaders agree with his plans to deny benefits to migrants for their first four years in Britain.
Senior Whitehall figures have said the proposed “emergency brake” must be agreed with members of the Visegrád group, which comprises Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, whose citizens could be affected by the measures.
Visegrád group leaders are worried that agreeing to the terms could affect their chances of winning in domestic elections.
“The prime minister will be focusing quite heavily on the Visegrád group over the next two weeks,” one Whitehall source told the Guardian.
“It is clear that there are nerves about how Poles, Czechs, Hungarians and workers from the Baltic States working in the UK might vote in elections back home.”
Other sources told the paper the negotiations looked promising, and were encouraged by the progress made over the weekend.
However, the talks were criticized by Euroskeptics, who called the weekend a “choreographed charade,” which allowed Cameron to appear as though he is fighting for Britain’s best interest.
Paul Nuttal from UKIP said the weekend had been stage-managed and was full of “theatrics.”
“The theatrics and drama of David Cameron’s sham renegotiation continues and he is playing us for fools.”
He told the BBC: “If the deal is that we are allowed to do it when we want, then yes, but if we have to phone a friend, indeed in this case 27 friends, to decide that we can put our foot on the brake, then no driver in their right mind would get into a car with those sorts of conditions.”
Via RT. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News with permission or license.