Euroscepticism
Yesterday January 30, 2012, UK Prime Minister, and leader of the Conservatives, David Cameron looked set to stand firm against the EU. He was in Belgium meeting with other EU leaders who were hoping to reach agreement on a new fiscal pact.
Of the 27 countries 25 simply signed away in spite of some having already expressed concerns. On the day just the UK and the Czech Republic stood firm and did not sign.
This was however different from Cameron's EU stand in December 2011 and represents something of a U Turn. He is obviously not in the same league as past UK Tory Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher who was "not for turning". Hard line Tories will maintain he is unlike her in many other ways also.
Mr Cameron may have not put pen to paper to sign on the proverbial dotted line but he did support the plan that the European Court could be used to police the new agreement. UK Tory eurosceptics see this as an about turn with potentially damaging effects for the future of the UK.
Mr Cameron seems to be confident that this European Court would have no power over the UK. This is why, he claims, that he did not use his veto, as he did in December. Instead the PM insisted that he would only raise a challenge if "national interests were threatened". By then no doubt it would be too late.
Mr Cameron looks set to face some tough questioning in the House of Commons. Labour of course will be gunning for him.Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that Mr Cameron has " sold the country down the river" However his own Tory party are not happy. One said that it, "Now it appears that vetoes one month unravel the next."
All of this has put the Liberal Democrat and Conservative alliance under threat. Hard line eurosceptics within the Tory party believe that the PM has acted this way to appease EU friendly Lib Dems.
Sky news reported that, the leader of Britain's Tory MEPs, Martin Callanan, who blamed the Lib Dem influence said:
"There is no doubt that the Government's position has altered since the December summit, when they were insisting the institutions could not be used. I blame a combination of appeasing Nick Clegg, who is desperate to sign anything the EU puts in front of him, and the practical reality that this pact is actually quite hard to prevent: the Government would have to ask the European Court of Justice to rule against itself having a role."
It has been reported that after yesterday's summit Cameron said,
"They (the other member states) have today agreed on a new treaty focused on tighter fiscal discipline which we agree is essential. Now this is a totally separate treaty - because we vetoed an EU treaty in December. We're not signing this treaty. We're not ratifying it. And it places no obligations on the UK. But, as I said in December, this is new territory: it has only been agreed today. It has yet to be ratified or implemented."
Perhaps this also means that they can now stop all these expensive summits and get on with the job in hand?
Of the 27 countries 25 simply signed away in spite of some having already expressed concerns. On the day just the UK and the Czech Republic stood firm and did not sign.
This was however different from Cameron's EU stand in December 2011 and represents something of a U Turn. He is obviously not in the same league as past UK Tory Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher who was "not for turning". Hard line Tories will maintain he is unlike her in many other ways also.
Mr Cameron may have not put pen to paper to sign on the proverbial dotted line but he did support the plan that the European Court could be used to police the new agreement. UK Tory eurosceptics see this as an about turn with potentially damaging effects for the future of the UK.
Mr Cameron seems to be confident that this European Court would have no power over the UK. This is why, he claims, that he did not use his veto, as he did in December. Instead the PM insisted that he would only raise a challenge if "national interests were threatened". By then no doubt it would be too late.
Mr Cameron looks set to face some tough questioning in the House of Commons. Labour of course will be gunning for him.Labour leader Ed Miliband has said that Mr Cameron has " sold the country down the river" However his own Tory party are not happy. One said that it, "Now it appears that vetoes one month unravel the next."
All of this has put the Liberal Democrat and Conservative alliance under threat. Hard line eurosceptics within the Tory party believe that the PM has acted this way to appease EU friendly Lib Dems.
Sky news reported that, the leader of Britain's Tory MEPs, Martin Callanan, who blamed the Lib Dem influence said:
"There is no doubt that the Government's position has altered since the December summit, when they were insisting the institutions could not be used. I blame a combination of appeasing Nick Clegg, who is desperate to sign anything the EU puts in front of him, and the practical reality that this pact is actually quite hard to prevent: the Government would have to ask the European Court of Justice to rule against itself having a role."
It has been reported that after yesterday's summit Cameron said,
"They (the other member states) have today agreed on a new treaty focused on tighter fiscal discipline which we agree is essential. Now this is a totally separate treaty - because we vetoed an EU treaty in December. We're not signing this treaty. We're not ratifying it. And it places no obligations on the UK. But, as I said in December, this is new territory: it has only been agreed today. It has yet to be ratified or implemented."
Perhaps this also means that they can now stop all these expensive summits and get on with the job in hand?
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