David Cameron was told by Francois Hollande and other top officials in the European Union that his calls for limits to benefits for EU workers in Britain threatened the 28-nation club’s core principles.
The British premier vowed to “battle through the night” to make progress towards a deal at the next EU gathering in February, before holding a referendum on Britain's membership by the end of 2017.
But with Europe already deeply split by a year that has seen a record inflow of nearly one million mainly Syrian refugees, crises in Greece and Ukraine and terror attacks in Paris, his counterparts were in little mood for compromise.
"If it is legitimate to listen to the British prime minister, it is unacceptable to revise founding European commitments, French president Hollande told reporters as he arrived in Brussels."
European Council President Donald Tusk added that “some parts of the British proposal seem unacceptable,” while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker urged Cameron to come up with alternatives.
“We want a fair deal with Britain but this fair deal with Britain has to be a fair deal for the other 27 too,” Juncker said; AFP reported.
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