UK should 'ask for change on Europe'

Britain is "perfectly entitled" to ask for a change in its relationship with Europe, Prime Minister David Cameron has said.

Speaking on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, he said voters would be offered "real choice" on this at the next election.

But he said being entirely outside the EU would not be "right for Britain".

Mr Cameron is due to make a long-awaited speech on Europe later this month. Many Tory MPs are urging a referendum.

The prime minister said any vote would happen within five years.Currency considerations

"People should be in no doubt that the Conservatives will be offering at the next election a real choice and a real way of giving consent to that choice," he said.

"What's happening in Europe right now is massive change being driven by the existence of the euro.

"The countries of the euro, they've got to change to make their currency work - the need to integrate more, they need to make changes to all their systems more."

He continued: "What that means is they are changing the nature of the organisation to which we belong.

"And so we are perfectly entitled, and not just entitled but actually enabled because they need changes to ask for changes ourselves."

As part of a series of EU reforms partially aimed at protecting the euro, the European Central Bank will be directly supervising around 200 of the largest European banks from 2014 - but will have the right to intervene if smaller lenders are in trouble.

With regards to the repatriation of some powers back to Britain, Mr Cameron said the government was already reviewing this.

"As you [EU members] need to make your changes, there are changes that Britain would like to make too."

He said people had said it was never possible to make changes to Britain's relationship with Europe, but he has already done this.
BBC