EU talks resume amid deadlock over David Cameron’s renegotiation demands

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>EU leaders have returned to the negotiating table after 20 hours of behind-the-scenes talks as David Cameron and European Council president Donald Tusk struggled to keep Britain&&num;8217&semi;s renegotiation on track&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The 28 leaders had initially been due to gather early in the morning for an &&num;8220&semi;English breakfast&&num;8221&semi; meeting to approve a package of reforms to the UK&&num;8217&semi;s membership&comma; but breakfast became brunch&comma; lunch&comma; high tea and then dinner as opponents of the deal dug in their heels&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The delays forced Mr Cameron to scrap plans to summon ministers for a Cabinet meeting on Friday evening to endorse the deal and fix a date for the in&sol;out referendum &&num;8211&semi; widely expected on June 23&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The meeting would also have given the green light to Eurosceptic ministers like Iain Duncan Smith and Chris Grayling to go out and campaign for Britain to leave Europe&comma; and put pressure on waverers like London mayor Boris Johnson and Cabinet minister Michael Gove to spell out where they stand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Sources close to Mr Gove declined to comment on increasingly widespread reports that the Justice Secretary is preparing to throw his weight behind Brexit&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Acknowledging his plans had been delayed&comma; Mr Cameron said in a message on Twitter&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;Negotiations are continuing into this evening&period; A Cabinet meeting won&&num;8217&semi;t be possible tonight&period; One will be held if and when a deal is done&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>After talks which stretched through Thursday night&comma; Mr Tusk resumed one-to-one discussions with a series of leaders&comma; including Mr Cameron&comma; over the course of Friday&comma; in the hope of forging a deal acceptable to all 28 members&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>By the time the leaders gathered at 8&period;30pm Brussels time&comma; it was not clear whether he had found a form of words which would satisfy all of them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Mr Cameron faced concerns from eastern European countries like Poland&comma; Hungary&comma; the Czech Republic and Slovakia over his call for an &&num;8220&semi;emergency brake&&num;8221&semi; on in-work benefits for migrant EU workers to extend for as long as 13 years&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And the same nations put up stiff resistance to the UK&&num;8217&semi;s demand to impose cuts in child benefits for offspring living abroad on 34&comma;000 existing claimants as well as future migrants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Meanwhile&comma; France and Austria voiced anxiety that the protections for non-euro states sought by Mr Cameron might effectively grant special status to the City of London and allow Britain to hobble future deepening of the eurozone&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>President Francois Hollande said France wanted &&num;8220&semi;a financial regulation system which is valid in all parts of Europe&&num;8221&semi; with no &&num;8220&semi;right of veto&&num;8221&semi; for individual countries&comma; while Austrian chancellor Werner Faymann said the UK must not be allowed to exercise &&num;8220&semi;a blockade against genuine banking union or other deepening of the eurozone&&num;8221&semi;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Speaking on France Inter radio&comma; Mr Hollande said he had floated a proposal for the eurozone to be given its own government&comma; parliament and budget to make it &&num;8220&semi;more dynamic&&num;8221&semi;&comma; whether Britain stayed in the EU or not&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;I will do what it takes for the UK to stay in Europe&comma; but it is also necessary for Europe to be able to advance&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said the French president&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;There can be no special status for the UK and the City of London&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The UK&&num;8217&semi;s interests must be taken into account&comma; but not to the detriment of Europe&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He warned that&comma; if Britain left the EU&comma; other member states might consider doing the same&comma; adding&colon; &&num;8220&semi;We must avoid national withdrawals&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Belgium insisted on a &&num;8220&semi;no second chance&&num;8221&semi; clause in the summit conclusions to make clear that the UK would not be offered a better deal if it voted to leave the EU&comma; in the hope of reversing the decision in a second referendum&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>And there was opposition to Mr Cameron&&num;8217&semi;s call for Britain&&num;8217&semi;s hoped-for exemption from the requirement to seek ever-closer union&comma; as well as changes to the relations between euro &&num;8216&semi;ins&&num;8217&semi; and &&num;8216&semi;outs&&num;8217&semi; to be enshrined in law by incorporation into the EU&&num;8217&semi;s treaties&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a surprise move&comma; Greece&&num;8217&semi;s Alexis Tsipras threatened that&comma; unless other countries promised not to close their borders to the refugees flooding into his country&comma; he would withhold his approval from the official summit conclusions &&num;8211&semi; effectively vetoing not only the UK package but also an agreement on migration hammered out in the early hours of the morning&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Arriving at the summit venue after just three hours of sleep on Friday morning&comma; Mr Cameron promised to do &&num;8220&semi;everything I can&&num;8221&semi; to finalise a &&num;8220&semi;credible&&num;8221&semi; package of reforms&period; But he insisted he would not sign up to an agreement which fell short of Britain&&num;8217&semi;s requirements&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He told reporters he was &&num;8220&semi;happy to stay until Sunday&&num;8221&semi; if need be&comma; adding he had warned wife Samantha and their children he may not be home this weekend&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>As the day wore on&comma; Mr Cameron had meetings with Mr Tusk&comma; German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Polish PM Beata Szydlo&comma; as well as his Danish&comma; Czech and Dutch counterparts&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>But Czech Europe minister Tomas Prouza suggested that the UK side was not engaging in negotiations&comma; writing on Twitter&colon; &&num;8220&semi;As the time passes&comma; I am more and more perplexed by the British approach of non-negotiation&period; Quite unorthodox&comma; to say the least&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a swipe at the PM&comma; European Parliament president Martin Schulz said&colon; &&num;8221&semi;We must make clear that the method &&num;8216&semi;I will tell you what you must do in order for me to stay&&num;8217&semi; doesn&&num;8217&semi;t work&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We have to reach out to one another&period; I have the impression that David Cameron sees that&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed2d2ea6d5a">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; function &lpar;&rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;if &lpar; false &equals;&equals;&equals; &lpar; window&period;isWatlV1 &quest;&quest; false &rpar; &rpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&sol;&sol; Use Aditude scripts&period;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings &equals; window&period;tudeMappings &vert;&vert; &lbrack;&rsqb;&semi;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;tudeMappings&period;push&lpar; &lbrace;&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;divId&colon; 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