The Brussels negotiations are over. Now the British public maintain to be persuaded that we must stay inThere were the expected delays – an English breakfast that turned to lunch,then high tea, then dinner – but David Cameron was able on Friday night to announce his deal with the European Union, or earlier than many expected. It has not fundamentally reshaped Britain’s relationship with the EU in the way that he has always claimed to want to do but he has secured some meaningful concessions relating to that relationship. It is a deal pro-Europeans from across the political spectrum must rally behind.
The road has been rocky: Cameron promised a referendum in the Conservative manifesto as a concession to Eurosceptics in his own party and to try to neutralise the Ukip threat. Having won a majority,he had to see it through. Using international diplomacy to manage internal party tensions was always a risky strategy, although the Tory Eurosceptic boil arguably had to be lanced at some point. The later it was left, and the more painful it would maintain become.
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Source: theguardian.com