European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso told British Prime Minister David Cameron yesterday he risked upsetting allies and losing international clout if he pursued an anti-immigration agenda designed to placate domestic voters.
Cameron retorted that British voters were concerned about immigration, and he was responding to those concerns. He has pledged to hold a referendum on Britain’s European Union membership if his Conservative party wins a 2015 election, as he takes an increasingly hawkish view on curbing migration within the EU and reviewing its freedom of movement principle.
Cameron hopes to persuade voters that he has a workable plan to address their concerns over immigration. He also wants to curtail the growing support for the hardline anti-EU UK Independence party (UKIP), which threatens his chances at next year’s vote.
Barroso, whose 10-year term as head of the EU’s executive body ends next month, warned Cameron on Sunday against trying to seek changes to the EU’s freedom of movement rules, saying they were essential to the bloc’s internal market.
In a speech at London’s Chatham House on Monday, he went further, saying that by engaging in such rhetoric on immigration, Britain risks isolating itself in Europe and undermining its attempts to achieve wider reforms.
“It would be an historic mistake if on these issues Britain were to continue to alienate its natural allies in central and eastern Europe,” Barroso said.
“It is an illusion to believe that space for dialogue can be created if the tone and substance of the arguments you put forward question the very principle at stake and offend fellow member states.”
Cameron has broadly outlined areas in which he wants to win reform from the EU, such as migration controls, retaining lawmaking powers at a national level and cutting red-tape for businesses. He has not given specific details, however. Other British parties also want reforms, but there is no consensus on a re-negotiation strategy.
