Prime Minister David Cameron today denied that Britain was failing to “pull its weight” in Europe, amid claims that the UK was marginalised by its refusal to get involved in reforms to shore up the ailing single currency.
• EU figures have suggested the UK is not playing an active role in discussions over the future of the eurozone
• Prime Minister David Cameron has dismissed the claims, pointing out aspects of the UK’s active role in debates over Syria and EU markets
This week’s summit of the European Council in Brussels has been dominated by proposals for economic and monetary union within the eurozone and some EU figures have suggested that the UK has been pushed to the sidelines in discussions.
Finland’s Europe minister Alex Stubb last night said that Britain had “voluntarily put itself in the margins”.
But at a press conference at the conclusion of the summit, Mr Cameron insisted that Britain remained “a very, very important and influential player” and was a driving force behind many of the measures agreed over the past two days.
He confirmed that he will not attend a ceremony to present the Nobel Peace Prize to the EU, and suggested that the award should be accepted by a delegation of schoolchildren from each member state.
Mr Cameron said: “I don’t accept this idea that somehow Britain doesn’t pull its weight in the EU.
“We are actually a very, very important and influential player and if you look at the text of today’s conclusions, so much of it is actually about what Britain wants on the single market and deregulation.”
He added: “We are a very active and strong participant in the European Union. Yes, we are a country that is sceptical about further political union in the EU - there are some powers we would like to have back.
“We are realists about the EU, we have a sort of realistic, gritty debate. That is what we are like as a people and I think that’s a thoroughly good thing.
“But when you ask yourself who actually is pulling the weight in Europe, getting things done, which other countries are piling on the pressure on Iran and making sure everyone follows with that, Britain is right there in the vanguard.
“Who is tightening the noose around the Assad regime and making sure the EU is tightening its restrictions? It’s the British that are doing it.
“On the single market - the biggest asset Europe has got, a market of 400 million consumers - which is the country that is saying ‘Right, come on, let’s set a date for completing the energy market, completing the digital market, completing the services market’? Who is driving that agenda which has made so much progress this year? It’s Britain.”