François Hollande, the French president, has dashed David Cameron’s hopes of an early revamp of the EU treaty, warning that such a revision was “not a priority”, reports The Financial Times.
The British prime minister used an Anglo-French summit to press the case for a new treaty to shore up the eurozone and to accommodate his plan for a renegotiation of Britain’s EU membership.
But Mr Hollande made it clear that he has no desire for a new treaty – which could trigger a referendum in France – before the next presidential elections in 2017. Mr Cameron wants to hold an in-out EU referendum in Britain in the same year.
“If there are going to be amendments to the text, we don’t think for the time being that is urgent,” he said after talks at RAF Brize Norton, an Oxfordshire air base. “We feel that revisions to the treaty are not a priority for the time being.”
Mr Hollande said that anything other than “minor procedures” – in other words a tweak to existing EU rules – could trigger a referendum in France and other countries.
Mr Cameron appeared to concede that his hopes of a major British renegotiation may have to be scaled back, when he said that any final settlement would have to involve “elements of treaty change”.
Read more of this report from The Financial Times.