Britain and the European Union: Reform, renegotiation and referendum

In 2015 the British people elected a government committed to reforming, renegotiating and holding a referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union before the end of 2017. Much is happening to deliver on that commitment.
Prime Minister David Cameron’s objectives

The Prime Minister believes that the reforms which Britain is seeking will benefit not just Britain, but the EU as a whole.

The four objectives at the heart of the renegotiations are economic governance, competitiveness, sovereignty, and migration/welfare. This means

• protecting the Single Market for Britain and others outside the Euro
• ensuring the EU’s competitiveness in the modern world
• exempting the UK from an ‘ever closer union’ and bolstering national parliaments;
• tackling abuses of the right to free movement and enabling control of migration from the EU.

The Prime Minister discussed the four areas with all his fellow EU leaders and Presidents Tusk and Juncker at December European Council. He was encouraged by the strong support for finding changes to keep Britain in the EU.

Discussions will continue to be tough and there is a still a lot of hard work to do on each of the four objectives. The Prime Minister is focused on success, and believes that 2016 will be the year something vital is achieved, fundamentally changing the UK’s relationship with the EU.