Cameron at Davos called for a more competitive, open and flexible Europe
British Prime Minister David Cameron insisted on Thursday he was not turning his back on Europe as the global elite at the annual Davos meeting gave his referendum plans a frosty reception.
Cameron was meeting world leaders and business chiefs at the World Economic Forum in the snowy Swiss ski resort for the first time since a speech on Wednesday revealing plans to let Britons vote on EU membership.
Cameron said urgent reforms were needed to make the EU more competitive but said he wanted Britain to remain in the bloc. “This is not about turning our backs on Europe — quite the opposite,” he said. “It's about how we make the case for a more competitive, open and flexible Europe, and secure the UK's place within it.”
But Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte indicated the scale of the mountain that Cameron must scale to persuade EU leaders to support his plans to renegotiate Britain's EU membership and then hold a referendum by the end of 2017.
“A UK outside the EU would be an island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Europe,” Rutte told the forum.
Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny took a more conciliatory tone, saying the 27-member bloc would be “stronger if Britain is part of it.”
“Whatever happens, I would like to see that Britain would remain central to the European Union. It's very important in the global sense,” Kenny told the forum.
Foreign policy guru and former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger meanwhile said that for Europe the “idea of European unity needs to be resolved” if it was to make a lasting recovery from the three-year Euro zone debt crisis.
But Cameron, whose country does not use the Euro, rejected any call for greater political union, saying: “A centralized political union? Not for me, not for Britain.”
Cameron ducked questions about how he would persuade his European partners to back his plans, saying that he was proposing “not just change for Britain but also change for Europe.”
He rejected suggestions however that uncertainty could deter foreign businesses from investing in Britain and insisted that being “frank and open” would “actually benefit business.”
Cameron said British business leaders — including more than 50 who wrote a letter to the Times newspaper on Thursday — “say that this is a sensible approach.”
His words also chimed with a report by the World Economic Forum published on Thursday which urged the EU to tackle a “competitiveness deficit” to make a lasting recovery from the Euro-zone debt crisis.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned on Thursday against easing off on painful reforms in Europe, saying the bloc must ensure it took full advantage of its debt crisis to modernize and boost its competitiveness.
“The political experience is that often you need pressure for political structural reforms,” Merkel said during her keynote speech.
“My conclusion is therefore that if Europe is in a difficult situation today, we must implement the structural reforms today so we can live better tomorrow.”
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the whole world already speaks their simple language, more or less well. which languages are they speaking? english, scottish, welsh, australian and others important languages like american.
it´s an illnes: they still feel like empirealistics as if we would feel to be a forth reich.
As you are clearly not British why are you so concerned about whether the UK stays within the EU or not?
NB As English is a simple language one could assume that even the simple can master it. What is your excuse for the post above?
i have no problem with them being out. absolutely not. but cameron should not think that the majority of the eu members could have one. it´s boring to hear always his threats in this direction.
but i would also be happy to have you in.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVxyGxEcMqQ&feature=player_embedded
Dutch PM Rutte: “a UK outside the EU would be an island somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean between the United States and Europe”
Both the Germans (the power of the EU) and the Dutch (both savers and producers) want the Brits out, because they know that the city of london, you know that corrupt cesspool of fraud, LIBOR scandal that robbed the savers and pension plans, and money laundring for terrorist groups and drug dealears...oh btw, nobody went to jail..nice huh) is broke and becoming (actually it's already a blackhole) a blackhole (meaning constantly bailing out failed zombie banks and austerity for the people, specially for the ones who worship their dear leaders). By the way, RBS and Lloyd, already owned by the “taxpayers” but clueless that both are BANKRUPT, both need more bailout money. Do you get it now? No? pay more attention to the falklands, an island you will never be able to visit.
UK's economy = Majority of the manufacturing jobs are outsourced (free trade for the corporations, not for you the regular people who don't belong to the club) while UK's economy today is dominated by crony capitalist (TBTF=TO BIG TO FAIL) City of London (financialization, worthless derivatives that nobody wants to buy except the taxpayers (QE 1, QE2, etc etc).
Oh, let's not forget, Germans want their gold back, now the Dutch, Austrians and Swiss and many more to come. :D, it's already smelling bad there in NYC and City of Londen, who are shitting in their pants (OMG, they want their gold back..OMG..what are we going to dooo)
full stop.
with the help of big brother. BUT: both was bullshit from us, really!
Good job there was a big brother or you and most of western Europe, would now be doing business in Russian.
nice to know you support us all the way.
I have known quite a few Germans over the years, and you are the first I've ever heard/seen use the term 'Brits'. Just a piece of constructive criticism, if you want to seem a bit more authentic.
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