EU leaders agreed at a summit in Brussels to seek a compromise regarding British Prime Minister David Cameron's controversial demands for EU reforms, EU Council President Donald Tusk said last night.
Cameron's key requirement is that migrants from other EU member states must live in Britain for at least four years in order to obtain certain social benefits, AFP reminds.
"The leaders expressed their concerns, but they also showed a determination to seek a compromise" on Cameron's request, Tusk told a news conference, adding that he was "much more optimistic" than before the discussion in Brussels.
Cameron's opponents say his request is discriminatory and goes against the EU's core principles of freedom of movement.
When asked by a journalist, if Cameron understood that his request was given a "red light" among his European colleagues, Tusk replied that "for him, the clearest message is that no one, including David Cameron, is ready to accept discrimination."
Tusk emphasized that the atmosphere during the working dinner at the summit was good and that "significant progress" was achieved with the discussions.
Cameron said after the summit that he appeared to be "paving the way" for an agreement on his proposals for EU reforms, which he has put forward as a condition for Britain to remain in the bloc.
"The good news is that the path has been paved for an agreement," Cameron told a news conference.
He added that difficult work is ahead in order to reach an agreement on all four areas of EU functioning in which he proposed reforms.
Britain raised the issue of changing some conditions of its membership in the EU ahead of the referendum on remaining in the Union, planned for the end of 2017, but Cameron has so far failed to reach an agreement with his colleagues from the EU on limiting the access of migrants from other EU countries to certain social benefits.
The heads of diplomacy of Britain and Italy, Philip Hammond and Paolo Gentiloni, recently published a joint text in which it is stated that London and Rome agree that it is necessary to reform the EU in order to protect the rights of those EU members who are not members of the eurozone, improve the business sector and win with the refugee crisis.
In a joint text published in the British "Daily Telegraph", Hammond and Gentiloni stated that their countries agree on many things.
"Italy and Great Britain agree that there is a need for strong reforms of the EU, simplification of its functioning, its procedures and regulations", stated the two ministers.
"We can work together on a package of Union reforms, which will address specific issues such as the role of national parliaments, competitiveness, economic governance and social systems, in order to make the EU simpler, more efficient and with less bureaucracy," Hammond and Gentiloni pointed out.
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