Cameron announces new EU Policy.

[jimmy olsen]

This is from the politics blog over at the Guardian. I like what I see, but not being British I don't count. What say our posters from across the pond?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/blog/2009/nov/04/david-cameron-new-eu-policy

David Cameron reveals new EU policy - liveRolling coverage as the Tory leader outlines his revised Europe policy after dropping his pledge to hold a referendum on the Lisbon treaty


3.45pm: This is big stuff. For the last few years David Cameron has been able to assert his Eurosceptic credentials by promising a referendum on the Lisbon treaty. His party has been united behind him. But that policy has now collapsed and Cameron is about to announce an alternative.

This speech could decide the nature of Britain's relationship with the EU for the next five or 10 years. As David Davis has already made clear today, the Tory right want Cameron to play hardball.

He's probably not going to give them what they want. But he's about to make some commitments which, if he wins the election, will determine how he deals with Britain's most important trading partners. We're about to find out what they are.

4.03pm: William Hague, Liam Fox, George Osborne and Mark Francois have just come in. You can tell this is important. Fox is sitting directly in front of me.

Here come Cameron.

4.04pm: They have not handed out a text yet, but Cameron has started. He says the Tory campaign against Lisbon is over, because the treaty has been "incorporated into law".

The Tories cannot hold a referendum to make the new posts being created bythe Lisbon treaty disappear, any more than the could stop the sun rising in the morning.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are to blame for the fact that voters did not get a referendum. Cameron says he understands the anger people feel about this.

He says that the betrayal of the promise to hold a referendum (Labour's betrayal) was one of the factors, alongside the expenses crisis, that has caused people to lose their faith in politics.

4.07pm: Cameron is now saying what his new policy will be.

First, he will legislate to ensure that there has to be a referendum whenever powers are transferred to Europe. He says the "referendum lock" will cover not just those occasions when the EU signs a new treaty. It will cover any transfer of power.

This will be a major constitutional change.

But he won't have a "made-up referendum". (This is a direct reference to the David Davis article in today's Daily Mail.) If the Tories win an election, they will already have a mandate to renegotiate Britain's relationship with the EU.

Second, Cameron says he will introduce a new law, a UK Sovereignty Bill, to make sure that ultimate authority remains in Westminster. It won't be about striking down EU laws. It will just put the UK on a par with Germany, where legislation says the ultimate authority lies with the German parliament.

Third, Cameron says he will legislate to stop the use of the "ratchet" clauses in the Lisbon treaty that would allow the further transfer of powers without another EU treaty.

The effect of these changes would be to ensure that a Lisbon situation would happen "never again". Those words will be in Tory election literature.

4.13pm: Cameron is now talking about the powers he wants to repatriate.

First, he wants to get back power over social and employment legislation - the so-called Social Chapter.

Second, the Tories would demand a proper opt out from the charter of fundamental rights.

Third, the Tories would seek to limit the European Court of Justice's power over criminal law to pre-Libson levels.

Cameron says these changes would need the agreement of all EU member states.

He accepts that these are complicated issues. William Hague is already working on the details. Success in these negotiations would ensure that EU negotiations do not have to be a "one-way street".

These three guarantees are "essential, realistic and deliverable".

"I believe we will be able to negotiate the return of these powers that I have set out."

But Cameron says he is not going to march into a "massive euro bust-up". He expects to achieve these aims over the lifetime of a parliament. His priority, if he becomes prime minister, will be the economy.

Cameron says he will be asked what he will do if he does not get the opt-outs he requires. He says he could return to this at the time of the next election (ie, the one after the 2010). At that point he might discuss a referendum on Britain's relations with the EU.

4.19pm: Cameron says he wants to finish with a message to Britain's EU partners. He wants to put Britain's relations with the EU on a good footing. He is looking forward to working with the EU on issues like climate change. And he wants to enlarge the EU, to include more Balkan states and Turkey.

Cameron says he will pay particular attention to financial regulation. He will be "tenacious" in defending the interests of the City.

He will never allow "Britain to slide into a federal Europe".

This is his programme for government, he says.

What people want from their politicians is "some straight talk and some plain speaking". People are fed up with "endless lies and spin". He is not going to "treat people like fools" and offer them a referendum that would not have any impact.

That's the speech over.

4.23pm: It's a very clever speech: gradualist Euroscepticism. He's proposing some radical (and possibly unrealistic) repatriation of EU powers, but giving himself five years to achieve it. And he's telling the Tory Eurosceptics, like Davis, that a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU is an option - but not until the election after next.

That might be one of the key news lines: Cameron is ruling out a referendum for the next four or five years.

4.26pm: On party unity, Cameron says everyone in the party is disappointed about a Lisbon referendum not taking place. "But that is passed. We have to deal with the world as it is."

Cameron says he has just come from a meeting of the 1922 Committee. It was "close to unanimous" in its support for the new policy.

Pressed about the UK Sovereignty Bill, Cameron says this will "help to stop the steady legal drift" of EU judges onto turf that, up until now, they have not been allowed onto. William Hague will announce more details in due course.

4.29pm: Cameron says Ken Clarke is "fully in support of this policy". That came after Gary Gibbon said Clarke was on record as saying a Sovereignty Bill of the kind proposed by Cameron was "baloney".

4.30pm: My colleague Nick Watt asks Cameron to give a guarantee to veto any further reduction in the British rebate.

Cameron says he has "a very clear view". Tony Blair's decision to give up the rebate was "a huge mistake". He did not get anything in return. Cameron says he would use the EU budget negotiations to achieve his long-term aims.

4.33pm: Asked again about the UK Sovereignty Bill, Cameron says it's not about striking down EU law. It's about stopping any future encroachment of EU law into UK law. Other countries with written constitutions can make that clear.

4.34pm: Andrew Miller from the Economist asks what "threats" Cameron will use to win back these powers.

Cameron says, first, he's not trying to win back these powers immediately.

Second, there are treaties coming up - like the Croatian accession treaty - that will provide an opportunity for these issues to be addressed.

Third, his proposals are "practical". He says "there's every chance of achieving these guarantees throughout a parliament".

4.38pm: Cameron is taking his final question, from a Spanish journalist, I think. Does he think what he is announcing will be perceived in the EU as a U-turn, driven by domestic politics?

Cameron says European leaders did not like his commitment to a Lisbon referendum. He was "as frank and clear" with other European leaders as he has been with the people of the UK.

Now it's over.

4.42pm: Instant Summary

Wow. You can say what you like about David Cameron, but he's never dull. I've just heard one journalist on the way out describe this as "bonkers". There's plenty of chew over here, and we'll probably be writing about the implication of this for days, weeks and years ahead, but here are my immediate thoughts.

1. It's going to be a good time to be a diplomatic correspondent. Cameron is about to embark on a renegotiation of Britain's relations with the EU which is more far-reaching, I think, than anything that has been tried since the 1970s. He seems to be deadly serious.

2. Nothing's going to happen very quickly. It's gradualist Euroscepticism. Cameron made a point of saying "we will not rush into some massive Euro bust-up". There's always been a pragmatic streak in Cameron, and that was reflected in his assertion that he's prepared to wait five years to achieve what he wants.

3. Cameron's an optimist. Although Cameron said he thought his EU demands were realistic, many commentators will conclude that he hasn't got a hope of getting 26 other EU states to give him what he wants. Cameron is not the first Tory leader to come up with a shopping list of this kind. But he's the first Tory leader who's likely to be in a position where he will be expected to deliver it.

4. This is going to have a major constitutional impact. Giving the voters a "referendum lock" will turn the UK into Ireland, where every major EU treaty change has to be approved by a referendum. This represents a significant shift of power from parliament to the people.

5. Cameron has put off the referendum issue for five years. To those Tories who are saying they want a referendum on Britain's relationship with the EU, Cameron is saying: "Wait five years, and we might have one then." Many of them will probably accept this. But in five years time Cameron may regret making this promise. Tony Blair promised voters a referendum on the euro. Later, he decided that was one of his biggest mistakes.

That's it. Enough drama for one day. I'm off home.

[citizen k]

They say nothing.

[Zanza]

First, he will legislate to ensure that there has to be a referendum whenever powers are transferred to Europe. He says the "referendum lock" will cover not just those occasions when the EU signs a new treaty. It will cover any transfer of power.

"Any" transfer of power is interesting. The EU has shared legislative competence in a lot of areas. As soon as the EU comes up with regulation in these areas, the member states can no longer legislate. However, that's already in the treaties so I wonder if such a case falls under Cameron's "any". I doubt that the other member states would accept that.

Second, Cameron says he will introduce a new law, a UK Sovereignty Bill, to make sure that ultimate authority remains in Westminster. It won't be about striking down EU laws. It will just put the UK on a par with Germany, where legislation says the ultimate authority lies with the German parliament.

Third, Cameron says he will legislate to stop the use of the "ratchet" clauses in the Lisbon treaty that would allow the further transfer of powers without another EU treaty.

Good.

Cameron is now talking about the powers he wants to repatriate.

First, he wants to get back power over social and employment legislation - the so-called Social Chapter.

Second, the Tories would demand a proper opt out from the charter of fundamental rights.

Third, the Tories would seek to limit the European Court of Justice's power over criminal law to pre-Libson levels.

Cameron says these changes would need the agreement of all EU member states.

Good luck with that. The EU is all about horse trading. He better has something to bring to the table to haggle. Like money.

But Cameron says he is not going to march into a "massive euro bust-up". He expects to achieve these aims over the lifetime of a parliament.

I suspect that he won't be able to deliver within five years. The other EU leaders won't be interested to hold such talks now right after a decade of working on the Lisbon Treaty.

Cameron says, first, he's not trying to win back these powers immediately.

Second, there are treaties coming up - like the Croatian accession treaty - that will provide an opportunity for these issues to be addressed.

That's really one of the most vile things a lot of countries in the EU do. Keeping other countries out until they get their will in a completely unrelated topic.

[Zanza]

The French are thrilled. 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8343641.stm

The Conservatives' stance on the EU has been attacked as a "pathetic" move by a French government minister who says it will "castrate" UK influence in Europe.

France's minister for Europe Pierre Lellouche said EU leaders would not help the Tories re-negotiate treaties.

[...]

Sylvie Goulard, a French MEP and president of the French European Movement, agreed with Mr Lellouche by saying she did not think the other member states would go along with the Tory plan.

"The idea that everyone comes in when there is a change in government in one of the member states, everybody has the right to change everything, has nothing to do with the legal tradition of the European Union.

"So we should refuse simply to do it."

[Martinus]

This looks like nothing more than pandering to the internal "stupid" vote.

Anyway, I'm torn on the UK leaving the EU.

1) It would be more difficult to enter the UK (bad), but 2) the pound will plummet, making it cheaper to go there for shopping (good), but 3) it is unclear if, with a total economic collapse of the UK, there will be anything to shop (bad).

[Warspite]

I suspect it's all a load of hot air designed for internal consumption.

There is no real will in Europe for the forseeable future for any major transfer of power. Lisbon has been such an exhausting process.

In other words, Cameron is spelling out a firm stance in scenarios that are not at all likely to come up. It's like him announcing he is being tough on defence by building an Atlantic Wall.

[Sheilbh]

[Josquius]

Labour promised a referendum? I can't recall this ever happening.

The EU is a grand thing and if Britain looks even remotely likely to leave I'm grabbing a Irish passport ASAP.

[MadImmortalMan]

I read the title wrong, and thought,"WTF business does Cameroon have announcing policies for the EU?!".

[Warspite]

What's with the thread necromancy?