The Fresh Start Group calls for four "significant" EU treaty revisions. Will Cameron back them on Friday?
By Paul Goodman
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The Editors of this site wrote yesterday about David Cameron's coming EU speech on Friday and what he should say about a referendum.
No less important is what he should say about the repatriation of powers, given that party opinion is coalescing around the option of "Common Market or Out".
The Daily Telegraph this morning previews today's launch of the Fresh Start's "Manifesto for Change. The paper reports that it contains four proposed "significant revisions" of EU treaties:
• The repatriation of all social and employment law, such as the Working Time Directive;
• An opt-out from all existing policing and criminal justice measures;
• An “emergency brake” on any new legislation that affects financial services;
• An end to the European Parliament’s costly monthly move from Brussels to Strasbourg.
The Fresh Start document also calls for agriculture, fishing policy and regional policy to be repatriated and makes proposals to limit the free movement of people across the EU.
It's not "Common Market or out" (Douglas Carswell reminded readers of the Financial Times yesterday of the difference between a common market and the Single Market).
None the less, the proposals are wide-ranging and raise the question of how they would be achieved, given occupied field and the role of the Court. We will find out more later.
William Hague writes a foreword to the document. The Foreign Office's door is open to Fresh Start - the Foreign Secretary has been hugging the group close - but his words are cautious:
“Many of the proposals are already government policy, some could well become future government or Conservative Party policy and some may require further thought."
Which raises another question - namely, which idea falls into which category as far as the Governent is concerned. We may discover more on Friday.
George Eustice is quoted as saying that although it's too early for the Prime Minister to set out proposals for negotiation, the group's ideas are intended to stimulate debate.
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