Poland says NO to Cameron's bid to reform EU migrant benefits leaving PM's hopes in ruins
POLAND has today delivered David Cameron a "resounding no" over his plans to reform European Union migrant benefits, hours after a top French minister accused Britain of trying to "dismantle" the 28-member bloc.
PUBLISHED: 10:44, Fri, May 29, 2015 | UPDATED: 18:15, Fri, May 29, 2015
Mr Cameron was delivered a 'resounding no' when he met the Polish leader today
Just weeks into his two-year battle to keep Britain in the EU, the Prime Minister's hopes of prising meaningful reform from Brussels appears to be in tatters following a series of outspoken rebuttals from European leaders.
Many of his proposals have already met with a frosty reception in many parts of the continent, and now the Tory leader's keystone pledges to tackle free movement and migrant benefits have been flatly rejected by Poland.
In a blistering attack Janusz Lewandowski, the chief economic adviser to Polish president Ewa Kopacz, said Mr Cameron has no chance of curbing migrants' access to benefits in Britain.
She said: "Cameron won't get far in Warsaw. He wants to limit immigrant rights and will hear a definite no, as he did in other European capitals."
Poland has said that the UK has no chance of reforming migrants' access to benefits
We support improvements to the Union but we cannot agree to dismantling it.
However, just hours later the Prime Minister's prospects were looking slightly rosier as German leader Angela Merkel indicated she may be prepared to support his key pledge to reform migrant benefits.
in an upbeat press conference after a lunch meeting between the pair, the German chancellor said they had not even discussed the possibility of a British exit from the EU.
She said: "We are discussing how to find a solution. I was giving examples where we have already found solutions, and that's why my assumption is we are going to find more solutions in this area as well.
"We have different situations, we have minimum wages that vary dramatically and we have social systems that vary dramatically.
"So the question of free movement needs to be connected with the question of employment and with the question as to how are we going to obtain a fair access to social benefits.
"There may well be a situation where Germany has to say 'Yes, we need to change something'."
Responding, Mr Cameron said: "We already have a Europe of different speeds and sometimes slightly different destinations."
"Europe needs to have the flexibility of a network, not the rigidity of a bloc.
"It's a strength to be able to accommodate the different nation states with their different desires and different beliefs about what the right outcome is."
On securing his key pledges of changes to migrant benefits and a get out clause for Britain from the EU's founding principle of ever-closer union, he added: "I've always said if I was to achieve none of these things then I rule nothing out, and I meant what I said by that.
"But I expect and hope and believe that Europe can show the flexibility that when one of the larger countries, a big contributor, a major European player, has some problems and issues, that those issues can be properly addressed, and I'm confident that they can."
The positivity he exuded was a far cry from this morning, when Downing Street admitted that the Prime Minister had encountered significant resistance to some of his key pledges during the meeting in Poland.
A spokesman for Number 10 said: "There was much they could agree on - making Europe more competitive by strengthening the single market, cutting back red tape, ensuring fairness between euro-ins and euro-outs and more subsidiarity, respecting the sovereignty of Member States.
"On immigration and welfare, Prime Minister Kopacz welcomed the PM's commitment to respect the principle of free movement.
"They agreed that there were issues concerning the interaction between free movement and national welfare systems that should be discussed further."
The firm Polish rejection came just hours after French foreign minister Laurent Fabius blasted the promised in/out referendum on Britain's EU membership as "very risky and quite dangerous".
He said that Britain was part of a club and has to accept the rules in a series of strident remarks intended to show that European leaders will not barter away key powers.
Mr Cameron met French President Francois Hollande in Paris last night, just days after details of a Franco-German pact designed to derail many of the UK's key demands for reform was leaked to the press.
After the meeting, Mr Fabius told French radio: "We want Britain to stay in the EU. We support improvements to the Union but we cannot agree to dismantling it.
He added: "Britain joined a football club. They can't now say in the middle of the match that they want to play rugby. It's one thing or the other."
French foreign minister Laurent Fabius accused Cameron of trying to tear apart the EU
Yesterday Mr Cameron met with French President Francois Hollande in paris
Later today the Prime Minister will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, where he is expected to tell her that Britain will vote to leave the EU unless it agrees to meet his demands.
Mrs Merkel was the driving force behind her country's secret pact with France promising to rule out future EU treaty changes.
Altering European law would be required for many of the UK's 'red line' demands on Brussels reform, including changes to free movement and migrant benefits.
However Mr Cameron's campaign to keep Britain in the EU was handed a boost today by the announcement that he will be able to deploy the full weight of the British establishment to convince voters.
Unlike in elections there will no period of purdah - or restrictions on the activities of civil servants - in the run-up to the referendum, meaning that departments like the Treasury and the Foreign Office will be able to produce reports supporting the pro–European cause.
After meeting the Prime Minister at the Elysee Palace yesterday, Mr Hollande said that it was "in the interest of Europe and that of the UK to remain together."
He said: "We share the same point of view France wishes the United Kingdom to remain within the EU.
"A referendum will be for the British people to choose. This is a matter of sovereignty for them to choose what they want for their future.
"We believe it is both in the interest of Europe and that of the UK to remain together, but we always must respect people's wishes.
"David Cameron will make a number of proposals and we will discuss them and see how we can move forward so that the British people can answer the question on the basis of what is most suitable."
He also thanked Mr Cameron for sharing his proposed EU reforms.
However the Prime Minister appeared to separate from France, claiming the "status quo is not good enough".
Mr Cameron warned Brussels must be "flexible and imaginative enough" to look at reform.
He said: "It is my priority is to reform the union to make it more competitive and address the concerns of the British people about our membership.
"The status quo is not good enough and I believe there is changes we could make that would not just benefit Britain, but the rest of Europe too."
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