British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday appeared to have come a step closer to sealing a contentious EU-wide deal on reforms to prevent a “Brexit”, as a key Polish leader said he was “very pleased” with the outcome of bilateral talks.
Poland’s influential governing party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski said “we’ve gained a great deal” after talks with Mr Cameron tackling a controversial proposal to curb benefits to European Union migrants in Britain.
Mr Kaczynski told reporters that Poles living in Britain will enjoy “full protection” of their rights to benefits, including a controversial “allowance for children living in Poland”.
He is widely seen as the real deal-maker in Prime Minister Beata Szydlo’s right-wing populist Law and Justice (PiS) government that took office after winning an unprecedented majority in October’s election.
Mr Kaczynski also hailed Britain’s “readiness for wide-ranging cooperation on security.”
Mr Cameron on Friday launched two weeks of high-stakes diplomacy aimed at reaching a deal to avert a “Brexit.”
He must convince his fellow 27 European Union leaders to back controversial reform proposals at a leaders’ summit in Brussels on February 18-19.
The risks were underlined on Friday by a new poll showing 45 per cent of Britons now want to leave the EU — up three percentage points from a week earlier — with only 36 per cent who want Britain to remain in the 28-member club.
Ahead of talks with Mr Cameron in Warsaw, Polish PM Beata Maria Szydlo told Britain’s the Times that the benefits proposal “doesn’t make me happy”.
Her tone mellowed at a press conference with the British leader who stressed their countries’ “shared interests” and “strategic partnership,” in both the EU and Nato.
But while saying it was “very important” to Poland for Britain to stay in the EU, she added: “There are always topics that need to be ironed out.”
“Over a million Poles live and work in Britain. Their work is growing Britain’s GDP and we want them to enjoy the same kind of opportunities for development as Britons,” Ms Szydlo said.
Sources close to the negotiations said on Thursday that so far no European leaders are satisfied with a draft agreement for a deal to avoid a “Brexit.”
