Following the letter sent last week concerning the new settlement for the United Kingdom, Donald Tusk has been visiting major European capitals to secure broad political support for the proposal, which he says is “very fragile”.
This has included visits to President Hollande, Chancellor Merkel, the Prime Minister of Greece, the President of Romania and the Czech Prime Minister, who currently holds the Presidency of the Visegrad Group.
Charles Grant, Director of the Centre for European Reform, argues that the deal is “far from fixed” and that “the British run the risk that the final deal will in some respects be worse than the draft of February 2.”
He says that although France and Belgium, as well as the European Parliament, will be trying to water down current drafts, it recently received its blessing from Poland and the European Council is “unlikely to make dramatic changes to these documents.”
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) has published a commentary about the Tusk deal from the view of major European capitals. This notes that, although there is resistance to some parts of the proposal from the Member States, they seem likely to approve the deal during the European Council on February 18-19.
Meanwhile, a leaked revised version of the draft settlement seems to show some minor changes to the text. The amended proposal adds emphasis to the importance of a “properly functioning euro area has for the European Union as a whole”, and says that the optional indexation of child benefits should not be extended to other benefits, such as old-age pensions.
Also, while the text continues to acknowledge that the “ever closer union” clause is not equivalent to the aim of political integration, it adds that “such an objective enjoys wide support in the Union.
Heads and state of government are thus expected to find an agreement in Brussels next week, paving the way for the UK’s referendum to take place in June 2016. The exact form of the deal, however, will be subject to negotiations over the coming week.
On Tuesday, the UK Prime Minister will be meeting with group leaders of the European Parliament next week in an effort to secure their support for the plan.
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