David Cameron says he can “deliver” on European Union reforms, despite a failed attempt to block former Luxembourg prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker’s path to the European Commission presidency.
The prime minister defended himself over his campaign to thwart Mr Juncker’s European ambitions, after Labour called Mr Cameron’s negotiations with other European leaders an “appalling failure of relationship building”. Following the vote, Mr Cameron said the result was a “bad day for Europe”.
Last week’s outcome will make renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with Europe harder and it certainly makes the stakes higher. David Cameron
Mr Cameron faced questions in the House of Commons after he forced a vote of EU states on the selection of Mr Juncker as the nominated next European Commission president – a vote that he lost of Friday by a margin of 26 to two.
He insisted his actions represented standing by a point of principle and had made it clear Britain would not back down on issues of importance.
“It should not be for the European Parliament to try and dictate that choice to the council. This is a point of principle on which I was not prepared to budge”, Mr Cameron told MPs.
Looking to the future, Mr Cameron said: “We must work with the new commission president as we always do to secure our national interest.”
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaüble said the UK was an “indispensable” part of the EU and everything should be done to ensure the country remains a member state.
Europe without Great Britain is not Europe. Second, Great Britain is one of the most important [members]. Wolfgang Schaüble
Speaking to the Financial Times, he said the “EU without the UK is absolutely not acceptable, unimaginable.
“The UK is vital to the EU and all its institutions and member states should listen to what London has to say,” he said.
“Therefore we have to do everything, so that the interests and the positions of the UK find themselves sufficiently [represented] in European politics.”
Downing Street has revealed that Mr Cameron telephoned the European Commission president-designate to congratulate him on his nomination.
I will keep on standing up for our principles, fighting for Britain’s interests. David Cameron
A spokesman said: “They discussed how they would work together to make the EU more competitive and more flexible.
“The PM welcomed Mr Juncker’s commitment of finding a fair deal for Britain and Mr Juncker said that he was fully committed to finding solutions for the political concerns of the UK.
“The PM wished Mr Juncker well with the hearings in the European Parliament and they agreed to speak further at the next European Council on 16 July.”
Mr Cameron opposes the appointment of Mr Juncker because the federalist’s aims are at odds with Mr Cameron’s ambitions to reform the EU – in part a response to the increasing anti-EU sentiment in the UK shown in the increased popularity of Ukip.
Were Britain to leave the European Union it wouldn’t just be a catastrophe for Britain, it would be a disaster for the European Union as a whole. Lord Mandelson
Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Monday, Mr Cameron said he was “ready to keep fighting for Britain’s interests in Europe”.
“I will keep on standing up for our principles, fighting for Britain’s interests, fighting with all I have to reform the EU over the next few years,” he wrote.
“And at the end of 2017, it will not be me, our parliament, or Brussels that decides on Britain’s future in the European Union – it will be the British people.”
However, former EU commissioner Lord Mandelson cautioned Mr Cameron against using the threat of an exit as a weapon in the battle to secure EU reforms, urging him to seek consensus.
He added that Mr Cameron faced difficulties finding allies as a “direct result” of his tactics in Brussels, the Labour former cabinet minister told BBC Radio 4 Today’s programme.
And he insisted that Mr Juncker was not looking to create a “United States of Europe” and shared the view that the UK leaving the EU would be a “disaster”.
“I would just give this advice to our Prime Minister: stop waving around the sort of threat of a referendum in Britain as if it is some sort of pistol we are holding to everyone’s head and saying ‘you’ve got to agree with us or else’,” he said.
“[Mr Juncker] strongly agreed with me when I said that were Britain to leave the European Union it wouldn’t just be a catastrophe for Britain, it would be a disaster for the European Union as a whole.”