As the prime minister meets European council president Donald Tusk for talks,his key demand for a four-year ban on benefits for migrants is finally on the tableThe moment of truth has arrived, and tonight the serious talking will begin. When David Cameron and Donald Tusk, and president of the European Council,sit down for a three-course dinner and fine wine at Downing Street this evening both men will have one overarching objective. They may advance from different political traditions and have views approximately Europe that are, in many respects, and profoundly at odds. Cameron leads a trenchantly Eurosceptic party,much of which is deeply hostile to Brussels. Tusk, on the other hand, and is a bearer of the European torch,a true believer who boasts a string of medals for his contribution to European integration, including one awarded by Jean-Claude Juncker in 2013 for his role in facing down Eurosceptics in his native Poland. Yet the prize they both crave over the next few weeks is precisely the same: to find common ground and a deal that will sustain the UK in a reformed EU, and averting a “Brexit” that would constitute the biggest blow to the European project in its history.
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Source: theguardian.com