Chancellor George Osborne is set to lay out demands for the future of the UK’s relationship with the EU in Germany later today, in an attempt to come to a new arrangement before the in-out referendum.
His main focus is to ensure that firms in countries which do not use the euro as their currency are not discriminated against, and require legally that those countries who do not use the single currency – like the UK – are not required to bail out euro members.
Excerpts from his speech show his intention to make it clear that the UK is not in favour of an ‘ever closer union’ as it stands at the moment:
“It needs to be a Europe where we are not part of that ever closer union you are more comfortable with … an ever closer union is not right for us any longer.
“The (EU) principles must ensure that as the euro zone chooses to integrate it does so in a way that does not damage the interests of non-euro members.
“What we seek are principles embedded in EU law and binding on EU institutions that safeguard the operation of the union for all 28 member states. The principles must support the integrity of the European single market.”
The UK government are desperately trying to come to a new arrangement with the EU, ahead of the referendum at the end of 2017. Next week, Prime Minister David Cameron will next week set out Britain’s demands in full in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk.
