LONDON: British opposition leader David Cameron, tipped as the next prime minister, vowed to take back powers from Europe, sparking a scathing response Thursday from a French government minister. Confirming his party would no longer hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty, Cameron said he would seek to stop the “steady and unaccountable intrusion” of the European Union into British law if he wins the next general election.
Cameron, whose Conservative party holds a commanding lead in polls over Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor, said he did not want a “massive Euro bust-up” over his plans, revealed in a speech Wednesday.
But French Europe Minister Pierre Lellouche slammed the plans as “pathetic” and accused the Conservatives of marginalizing Britain within the EU.
“It’s pathetic. It’s just very sad to see Britain, so important in Europe, just cutting itself out from the rest and disappearing from the radar map,” Lellouche told the Guardian newspaper.
“They are doing what they have done in the European parliament. They have essentially castrated your UK influence in the European Parliament.”
Cameron’s speech comes after he pulled his party out of the main center-right grouping in the European Parliament, a move that sparked derision from the Labor government and concern among many in Europe.
Cameron explained that his party had no choice but to abandon a “cast-iron guarantee” to hold a national vote on the EU’s reforming Lisbon Treaty following its ratification Tuesday by the Czech Republic.
He promised to negotiate the return of powers from Brussels to London.
Over five years, Cameron said the Conservatives would secure opt-outs on the Charter of Fundamental Rights and certain social and employment legislation, and also limit the power of the European Court of Justice in Britain.
Cameron also pledged to change British law so that any future transfer of powers to Brussels under the Lisbon Treaty must be approved by Parliament. – AFP
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