Cameron kicks off EU reform tour

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Series Details 26.05.15
Publication Date 26/05/2015
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United Kingdom's prime minister David Cameron kicked off a week of talks on Britain's future in the European Union with a meeting with European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker on 25 May 2015.

According to a statement released by the prime minister's office, Mr Cameron 'underlined that the British people are not happy with the status quo and believe that the EU needs to change in order to better address their concerns'.

Mr Juncker told the UK prime minister that 'he wanted to find a fair deal for the UK and would seek to help'. The two 'talked through the issue at some length in the spirit of finding solutions to these problems'.

Mr Cameron was scheduled to meet Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, and French president Francois Hollande on 28 May 2015 (the meeting in Denmark was cancelled due to the announced on the 27 May 2015 general election in Denmark on the 18 June 2015).

On the following day, he was set to sit down with his Polish colleague Ewa Kopacz in Poland, and German chancellor Angela Merkel in Germany.

He aimed to speak to all of them before the European Council at the end of June 2015. However, media sources reported that France and Germany were planning to forge a tighter political union between the eurozone countries, simultaneously to Mr Cameron's tour across several EU capitals.

On 28 May 2015, as the referendum question was unveiled, the UK government warned that Britain would vote to leave the EU unless member states agreed on the UK's requirements for reform. Speaking to the BBC on 4 June 2015, Ms Merkel stated that the EU should be flexible with Britain, and open to treaty change if necessary.

Source Link Link to Main Source https://euobserver.com/news/128822
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The Guardian, 26.05.15: EU reform means different things to member countries http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/26/eu-reform-member-countries-david-cameron-european-union-treaty
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