David Cameron: I will defend Britain's national interests over new EU deal Mr Cameron said that "while tough fiscal discipline" was essential it was vital that the eurozone also recapitalised their banks, "end the uncertainty in Greece, and establish a firewall big enough to deal with the crisis." These measures cannot wait. The risks are too great. They are the immediate steps necessary if the single currency is to succeed. The president of the European Council, Herman van Rompuy, said 25 of the 27 EU members would be signing the pact at the next summit in March. The Czech Republic has not yet made up its mind and remains outside the pact, with Britain. But Mr Cameron said jobs and growth had to be the top issue for EU leaders: Growth must be the number one priority every time we meet. My message to other leaders was to be bold and decisive. European Union action should match the ambition we are showing back home. He said the summit declaration, Towards Growth-Friendly Consolidation and Job-Friendly Growth, was "a step forward to accelerate legislation to do most to generate growth, to cut regulation for small businesses, to remove barriers to services and make it easier to do business online, in a digital Europe with half a billion customers." 2012 had to be a "decisive" year to get EU trade moving with, among others, India and China. Asked if he now regretted threatening to block the use of EU institutions by the other countries regarding their new eurozone policies, Mr Cameron said: "Nothing changes the fact we were confronted by an EU treaty and we vetoed that treaty. There isn't a Brussels EU treaty and they've had to make a treaty outside the EU. Obviously they would have preferred to have it inside the EU, so to argue that the veto doesn't matter but to argue that veto doesn't matter is bizarre. He went on: "On the institutions.....the key point here for me is what is in our national interest, which is for them to get on and sort out the mess that is the euro. That's in our national interest. We will be watching like a hawk and if there is any sign that they are going to encroach on the single market we will take the appropriate action, if I may put it that way. The principle that the EU institutions can only be used with the permission of 27 (member states) has not changed. In as much as this (new treaty) is about fiscal union, fine: if it encroaches on the single market, not fine. Shadow foreign secretary Douglas Alexander said: "The unanswered question after this summit remains what exactly David Cameron achieved by walking out of the EU negotiations last month? With the EU institutions now involved, it seems clear that all his earlier phantom veto achieved was to undermine British influence and so make it harder for Britain to protect its own interests in Europe and push for an effective solution to the eurozone's problems. Earlier the leader of Britain's Tory MEPs Martin Callanan acknowledged that Government policy on the fiscal compact had changed - partly because of a need to mollify Nick Clegg, he said. Mr Callanan commented: "There is no doubt that the Government's position has altered since the December summit when they were insisting the institutions could not be used. I blame a combination of appeasing Nick Clegg, who is desperate to sign anything the EU puts in front of him, and the practical reality that this pact is actually quite hard to prevent: the Government would have to ask the European Court of Justice to rule against itself having a role. He added: "Any action could easily take two years, we would probably lose and, if the euro collapsed in the meantime, the UK would get the blame. It's particularly ironic when the EU lectures developing countries about the importance of good governance and the rule of law.