David Cameron urged Europe to “wake up” to the modern world as he tried to breathe life into his EU reform agenda.
Embarking on a tour of European capitals, he warned that the EU was too regulated and inflexible to prosper without major changes. “We want a Europe that wakes up to this modern world of competition and flexibility,” the Prime Minister said. “Do we think that the European Union has sometimes overreached itself with directives and interventions and interferences? Yes, it has. And that needs to change.”
Mr Cameron’s trip follows last week’s decision by France and Germany to snub his plea to take part in a review of EU powers and their impact. The British leader began in Madrid with talks with Spain’s prime minister Mariano Rajoy this morning, and was travelling to Paris for a working dinner with president François Hollande. Later this week he meets the German chancellor Angela Merkel.
British support for membership of the EU was “wafer thin”, Mr Cameron told journalists from five countries before setting off. He said he was “convinced” the eurozone crisis would lead to a new EU treaty, opening the way for some of the reforms he had in mind.
The Prime Minister was using the same talks to push ideas for the forthcoming G8 summit hosted by Britain, including boosting trade with the US.
