Cameron EU reform plans run into trouble

As a two-day meeting in Brussels began the Prime Minister faced an uphill battle to win support from other EU member state leaders, ahead of a referendum before the end of 2017.

It got off to a bad start when the leaders of Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic said they would reject any demand to change EU laws that would discriminate against their citizens, or limit their freedom of movement.

Mr Cameron is planning to make a “direct” and “constructive” appeal to all 27 EU leaders to implement a four-year ban on EU migrants receiving in-work benefits.

Arriving in Brussels, Mr Cameron said: “We are not pushing for a deal but we are pushing for real momentum. I am going to be battling hard for Britain right through the night. I think we will be getting a good deal.”

Earlier European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said any deal must be fair to all member states not just to Britain.

“We want a fair deal with Britain and this fair deal with Britain has to be a fair deal with the other 27 too, so we are open-minded,” Mr Juncker said.

Martin Schulz, the head of the European Parliament, expressed concerns about the plan to stop migrants receiving benefits that non-migrants would receive.

“My and my colleagues’ doubt is that a four years’ delay is acceptable,” he told a press conference before the talks got underway.

The intervention of two of Europe’s most senior politicians comes days after Angela Merkel – seen as a key Cameron ally – said she would not back “discrimination” against migrants.

Mr Cameron will warn his European counterparts against growing concerns in the UK over immigration that could lead to a ‘Brexit’. A new poll by Lord Ashcroft reveals that 47 per cent of those polled are inclined to vote to leave, with 38 per cent ready to vote to stay.

There have been suggestions that Mr Cameron is open to compromise, including an “emergency brake” when immigration rises sharply, but officials say that the only formal proposal is the four-year-benefit ban.

Downing Street believes a deal can be reached at a planned summit in February.

Last month the government said it wanted reform in four areas: an opt-out on ever closer union, protection of the single market for non-euro countries, reduction of red tape, and, most controversially, restrictions on EU-migrants’ benefits.

This week’s summit is his first opportunity to discuss his reforms in detail.

Mr Cameron is under pressure to reach a renegotiation deal that is palatable to Eurosceptic politicians on the government’s back benches, and a growing proportion of the public.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is also in Brussels, and is expected to tell a meeting of the Party of European Socialists that the Prime Minister has “botched” his plans.

Mr Corbyn will say: “He has tried to bludgeon them [European leaders] into accepting flawed and phoney reforms, which will not address the real problems of the European Union — and failed.”

Ukip leader Nigel Farage said Mr Cameron’s demands are a “con”.

“The only substantive point the Prime Minister has asked for is for us to be able to limit migrant benefits for up to four years, and he’s not even going to get that,” he told Radio 4’s Today programme.