Cameron denies 'blackmailing' EU
2013-01-14 14:59
London - British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday
denied trying to "blackmail" his European partners by threatening to
pull out of the EU if he did not get his way on repatriating powers.
Ahead of a long-awaited speech next week in which he is
expected to propose a referendum after the 2015 election on the conditions of
Britain's membership; Cameron added that he was "confident" of
getting the changes he wanted.
"I'm not blackmailing anybody," Cameron said in
an interview with BBC radio.
"Britain, just like every other European country,
has a perfect right to say we are members of this club, we are prominent
members, we pay a large bill for being a member of this club.
"We are perfectly entitled to argue that it needs to
change."
Cameron's close ally and finance minister, George
Osborne, told a German newspaper last week that "for us to stay in the
European Union, the EU must change", prompting a German lawmaker to accuse
Britain of blackmail.
Unhappy with relationship
Cameron stressed that he still supported Britain's
membership of the 27-nation bloc.
"I don't think it's in our interests to leave the
European Union," he said.
"Would Britain collapse if we left the European
Union? No, of course not. We could choose a different path. The question is,
what is in our national interest?"
But he said he was "not happy" with the
relationship and said the British public were also "increasingly fed up
that they've been left out of this debate".
He said he wanted a "fresh settlement, and then
fresh consent for that settlement".
But a straight in-out referendum asking whether Britons
wanted to remain in the EU was a "false choice", Cameron said.
Referendum question deflected
"Right now, there are a lot of people who say, I
would like to be in Europe but I'm not happy with every aspect of the
relationship so I want it changed. That is my view," he said.
"So I think an in-out referendum today is a false
choice."
Cameron deflected a question about whether an in-out
referendum was possible further down the line.
"I'm confident we will get the changes that we want.
We will have a new settlement and then we'll put that to the British people in
a very straightforward way," he said.
Cameron's remarks came after one of his cabinet
ministers, Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, warned Britain should not stay
in the EU at any cost.
"If it's in our clear national interest that we
should remain in the European Union - and I sincerely hope that is the case -
then we should stay, but we shouldn't stay at any price," he told the BBC
on Sunday.
