Friday

29th Mar 2024

Cameron planning June 2016 EU vote

  • David Cameron is set to announce a June 2016 referendum on EU membership. (Photo: consilium.europa.eu)

David Cameron is poised to set out plans for the UK’s referendum on European Union membership to be held in June next year.

According to a report in the Independent on Sunday, citing government sources, the prime minister will announce the date during his keynote address at his Conservative party’s annual conference in October.

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

Cameron has long favoured an early referendum, as he seeks to cash in on strong personal popularity ratings following his surprisingly decisive victory in May’s UK elections.

However, the early poll will increase suspicions among Conservative eurosceptic MPs that Cameron is planning only modest changes to the UK’s membership terms.

The prime minister had indicated that he was keen to hold the vote in May, on the same day as elections to the Scottish and Welsh parliaments, but backed down following political pressure from the opposition parties and his own Conservative MPs.

Cameron set out his reform wish-list at an EU summit in June.

His main symbolic demand is that the phrase “ever-closer Union” be deleted from the preamble to the EU treaties, while key policy priorities include curbs on welfare for EU migrants, and safeguards for the UK as a country outside the eurozone.

He is also angling for the UK to get back its previously held opt-outs on social and employment rules, such as the directives on temporary workers and working time.

He has also conceded that the referendum will be held without a treaty reform having been ratified by other EU governments, making it more likely that Cameron will settle for a series of protocol or legal declarations that could be appended to the treaty of the EU’s next accession country.

The government’s referendum bill, on which debate will resume in September, states that the public vote will be held before the end of 2017, but Europe minister David Lidington has stated that the government will table amendments when it reaches the report stage in Parliament.

Recent opinion polls suggest that Britons will vote to remain in the 28 country bloc by a comfortable 60-40 margin.

Although the opposition Labour party has stated that it will not share a common platform with Cameron, the cross-party ‘Yes’ campaign announced last week that its top team will include a former Labour candidate, Will Straw, alongside Ryan Coetzee, advisor to former Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, and the Conservative Lord Cooper.

Meanwhile, Cameron’s finance minister George Osborne is in Paris, making the first of a series of visits to EU capitals as part of the UK government’s charm offensive.

The French government of socialist President Francois Hollande is believed to be one of the most reluctant to allow the UK to loosen its EU ties

"I want to see a new settlement for Europe, one that makes it a more competitive and dynamic continent to ensure it delivers prosperity and security for all of the people within it, not just for those in Britain," Osborne is expected to say in a speech on Monday (27 July).

Cameron faces rebellion on referendum rules

David Cameron is facing several backbench rebellions from his Conservative party as his bill to guarantee an EU referendum faces a series of parliamentary votes.

Cameron defeated on EU referendum bill

Eurosceptic Tories and Labour MPs voted against changing campaign rules to allow ministers and civil servants to express views ahead of EU referendum.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsThis autumn Europalia arts festival is all about GEORGIA!
  2. UNOPSFostering health system resilience in fragile and conflict-affected countries
  3. European Citizen's InitiativeThe European Commission launches the ‘ImagineEU’ competition for secondary school students in the EU.
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersThe Nordic Region is stepping up its efforts to reduce food waste
  5. UNOPSUNOPS begins works under EU-funded project to repair schools in Ukraine
  6. Georgia Ministry of Foreign AffairsGeorgia effectively prevents sanctions evasion against Russia – confirm EU, UK, USA

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us