Teh One Who Knocks
12-11-2011, 01:58 PM
The Associated Press
http://i.imgur.com/FdiFv.jpg
LONDON – The leader of the junior party in Britain's coalition government has criticized Prime Minister David Cameron's move to block European Union treaty changes, saying Sunday it was "bad for Britain" and he was bitterly disappointed by the outcome.
"Now there is a danger that the U.K. will be isolated and marginalized within the European Union," Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, warning that already the country is "retreating further to the margins of Europe."
Clegg initially had said he backed the decision, but he acknowledged that when Cameron told him of the move in a 4 a.m. phone call he clearly expressed his disappointment.
"I said this was bad for Britain," he recalled to the BBC. "I made it clear that it was untenable for me to welcome it."
Clegg — who has advocated closer European ties even while Cameron's Conservatives lobby for distance from Brussels — said he will now do everything he can "to ensure this setback does not become a permanent divide."
Cameron rejected an invitation to join 26 European partners in a tighter financial alliance to save the euro after failing to secure safeguards and exemptions for Britain's dominant financial sector.
The move isolated Cameron from the European Union and raised doubts about whether Britain realistically can remain a member of the 27-nation bloc, while eliciting toasts from the prime minister's typically anti-EU party and prompting speculation over the survivability of the coalition.
But Clegg — the leader of the Liberal Democrats — dismissed talk of a breakup of the coalition with Cameron's Conservatives.
"It would be even more damaging for us as a country if the coalition Government was to fall apart," he said. "That would cause economic disaster for the country at a time of great economic uncertainty."
http://i.imgur.com/FdiFv.jpg
LONDON – The leader of the junior party in Britain's coalition government has criticized Prime Minister David Cameron's move to block European Union treaty changes, saying Sunday it was "bad for Britain" and he was bitterly disappointed by the outcome.
"Now there is a danger that the U.K. will be isolated and marginalized within the European Union," Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said, warning that already the country is "retreating further to the margins of Europe."
Clegg initially had said he backed the decision, but he acknowledged that when Cameron told him of the move in a 4 a.m. phone call he clearly expressed his disappointment.
"I said this was bad for Britain," he recalled to the BBC. "I made it clear that it was untenable for me to welcome it."
Clegg — who has advocated closer European ties even while Cameron's Conservatives lobby for distance from Brussels — said he will now do everything he can "to ensure this setback does not become a permanent divide."
Cameron rejected an invitation to join 26 European partners in a tighter financial alliance to save the euro after failing to secure safeguards and exemptions for Britain's dominant financial sector.
The move isolated Cameron from the European Union and raised doubts about whether Britain realistically can remain a member of the 27-nation bloc, while eliciting toasts from the prime minister's typically anti-EU party and prompting speculation over the survivability of the coalition.
But Clegg — the leader of the Liberal Democrats — dismissed talk of a breakup of the coalition with Cameron's Conservatives.
"It would be even more damaging for us as a country if the coalition Government was to fall apart," he said. "That would cause economic disaster for the country at a time of great economic uncertainty."