Europe refuses to be rushed on UK demands for treaty change

David Cameron's hopes for a far-reaching overhaul of Britain's relationship with the EU were dealt an early setback on Wednesday when Germany said the UK's partners would not be rushed into changing the bloc's treaties to meet its reform demands.

In a sign of a broader distrust of London's motives, Wolfgang Schauble, Germany's finance minister, also lashed out at George Osborne's "silly" and "unnecessary" record of intervening over the eurozone crisis. Many in Brussels believe London intentionally sought to undermine monetary union, Mr Schauble noted.

The chancellor of the exchequer was given this sharp reminder of the uphill task facing the newly elected Conservative government on the same morning Mr Cameron was telling his cabinet he needed treaty change to sell a new deal on Europe to the British public.

Mr Osborne, appointed London's lead negotiator on Europe after last week's election, was told clearly by his German counterpart that Britain would not be able to hitch its reform demands to a revamp of the eurozone.

After discussing London's ideas for reform with Mr Osborne on the margins of the EU finance ministers' monthly meeting, Mr Schauble said any reopening of treaties would not occur for some time. Changes to the eurozone that Berlin is immediately seeking would be achieved "more step by step", without treaty changes, he said.

"The opinion of the German government has always been that we need treaty changes, whenever, the sooner the better," Mr Schauble told reporters after the meeting. "But the realistic assessment of the German government is that it is not at all certain that this can be achieved quickly."

British officials said Mr Osborne's private talk with his German counterpart were more upbeat and noted Mr Schauble publicly agreed common ground for EU reforms could be found.

Mr Cameron has vowed to schedule an in-out referendum on EU membership by 2017 and a spokesman said he would accelerate the timetable for the vote if possible. The prime minister is planning a series of bilateral meetings with EU leaders in the coming weeks ahead of a June summit in Brussels, where he intends to launch his renegotiation effort.

British officials had hoped to append their renegotiation to moves towards greater political and fiscal integration among eurozone members, often arguing from the sidelines that the single currency would be doomed without it.

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"Sherpas" representing all 28 EU prime ministers, including Mr Cameron, have been meeting privately in Brussels on a monthly basis to hammer out the eurozone reform plan, which has been championed by Mario Draghi, the European Central Bank chief.

But according to a five-page "note for discussion" distributed before last month's meeting, and obtained by the Financial Times, treaty change is not among the topics currently under consideration.

"My conviction is that if we cannot complete these things [eurozone reforms] in an orderly way [we will have problems]," Mr Schauble said. "What it's about is defending and making relevant the structure of the European currency union."

As he arrived for the Brussels meeting, Mr Osborne sought to cast Britain's renegotiation as beneficial to both the UK and other European countries. "We come here with a very clear mandate to improve Britain's relationship with the rest of the EU and to reform the EU so that it creates jobs and increases living standards for all its citizens," he said.

Ministers involved in the closed-door discussion said Mr Osborne did not bring the renegotiation up during the main round-table debate, confining discussions to the session's sidelines.

But Mr Schauble was not alone in his scepticism. Hans Jorg Schelling, the Austrian finance minister, belittled using an in-out referendum as a way to overhaul Britain's role in the EU.

"I think politicians have to act decisively," said Mr Schelling, a member of Austria's main centre-right party. "When politicians believe they have to ask the people, it's an indication that they themselves are not willing to make the decisions and carry the consequences."

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