Juncker Compares U.K.-EU to Aging Love Affair in Trouble
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said he was prepared to examine the U.K.s demands about how the European Union should change while stressing that certain red lines, including on immigration issues, shouldnt be crossed.
Comparing EU-U.K. relations to a love affair, Juncker said people shouldnt stay together if the conditions arent the same as when things started. Britain joined the bloc in 1973, 16 years after it was created, and the romance has never been comfortable since, with the introduction of the euro and migration from former Communist countries straining the relationship further.
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum on Britains membership in the 28-nation bloc by the end of 2017 if he wins Mays general election, with polls signaling a narrow lead in support for a British exit. Cameron says he wants to renegotiate the terms of U.K. membership to give national authorities more power over issues such as welfare payments to migrants.
While its in the interest of both the U.K. and the EU to stay together, Juncker said he wont weaken the blocs fundamental principles. There are red lines that cant be crossed, he said.
When one mentions the end of the free circulation of workers, there can be no debate, dialogue or compromise, he said. We can fight against abuses -- and national lawmakers can do that -- but the EU lawmakers wont change the treaties to satisfy the will of certain politicians, Juncker told an audience in Paris on Jan. 16.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who discussed the issue with Cameron earlier this month, said she isnt willing to change the principle of free movement within the EU to keep Britain as a member, according to an interview in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Jan. 16.
Cameron has said that he wants Europeans coming to the U.K. to be ineligible for welfare payments until they have been a resident for four years, and to have a job offer before they arrive in Britain. This would require the EUs other leaders to agree to change the rules governing free movement of people around the bloc -- something they have shown little willingness to do.
If our concerns fall on deaf ears and we cannot put our relationship with the EU on a better footing, then of course I rule nothing out, Cameron said in November.
The U.K. Independence Party, which campaigns for Britain to leave the EU, came first in European elections last year and holds two seats in the British parliament.
Its easy to fall in love and more difficult to stay together, Juncker said.
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Juncker Compares U.K.-EU to Aging Love Affair in Trouble