December 29, 2015•Update: January 05, 2016
LONDON
David Cameron’s ambition to fix “weaknesses” in the European Union has been backed by a key Bavarian ally of German chancellor Angela Merkel.
Manfred Weber, who leads the center-right European People’s Party in the European Parliament, told a German newspaper Tuesday that he wanted the United Kingdom to remain inside the bloc as the country prepares for a referendum on its membership.
But he warned Britain should “not be allowed to constantly put on the brakes” on European cooperation.
Britain is expected to hold a referendum whether to stay in EU or not later in 2016 after Cameron completes a renegotiation of his country’s membership terms.
Weber, whose Christian Social Union (CSU) is a junior partner in Merkel’s coalition government, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “When it comes to reform of EU’s weaknesses, such as the bureaucracy and the still missing competitiveness, then Cameron will find CSU on his side.
“We would like to help Cameron, but we do not want a British Europe, we want a better Europe. For Cameron, EU is mainly a common market. For the CSU, EU is a political union and a life insurance in times of globalization.”
But he added: “We have to also discuss in which areas we need more Europe, and in which areas we need less Europe. For example, in foreign and security policy, and also in monetary union, we need deepening. In terms of excessively detailed regulations complicating daily life of our citizens, we need less Europe”.
The newspaper reported Cameron would attend a CSU party conference in the southern German town of Wildbad Kreuth next week.
The U.K. prime minister has spent recent months meeting every leader in the 28-country bloc as part of his pledge to renegotiate Britain’s membership terms.
In a policy speech last month that set out his position, Cameron had said that it was of “cardinal importance” that the EU recognized the rights of its members who did not use the euro, such as the U.K.
In addition to new rules around the single currency, he had named three other issues – a greater say for national parliaments in EU affairs; European competitiveness in the world; and the need for greater migration controls – that needed to be addressed.
Weber said that if a deal is reached, Britain should accept it and not block “necessary steps for deepening in areas needed in Europe”.
He continued: “The U.K. should not be allowed to constantly put on the brakes, when other countries want to intensify their cooperation, for example in the field of military cooperation. If a weaker Europe will be the case at the end, after the reforms currently discussed with the U.K., then it would be difficult to find a common path with London”.
