“We’ll keep up the pace of negotiations and we’ll use this summit to… work on solutions in the toughest areas because we do need reforms in each and every area I’ve set out”.
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Mr Cameron spoke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone on Thursday to discuss the renegotiation efforts.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: “They discussed the significant and far-reaching reforms that the Prime Minister has proposed to address the concerns of the British people”.
After the call, Downing Street said: “The prime minister explained that his priority is to get the substance right, underlining the need for legally binding, irreversible changes”.
Mr Cameron’s demand for a benefit curb has always been seen as the most hard element of his re-negotiation plan, with Mr Tusk warning it will be “very, very difficult” to reach agreement at this month’s Brussels summit.
The Prime Minister is reported to have warned Mr Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker he is ready to campaign for Britain to leave the EU unless other leaders accede to his demands.
The U.K. premier said that the scale of the demands tabled by Britain meant that it was not possible to conclude a deal with other European leaders at the bloc’s December summit.
He continued: “We are not going to agree it in one go so I do not expect to reach agreement at this December summit but we won’t take our foot off the pedal”. “If David Cameron, together with me… if we decide that it is safe enough to shape it up, then we will take the risk”.
In a landmark policy speech last month detailing renegotiation of Britain’s membership terms, Cameron had said that it was of “cardinal importance for the United Kingdom” that the European Union recognized the rights of its members who did not use the euro.
“If Cameron is sure December is better for him as the organiser of this referendum, I will be helpful and I am ready to convince our officials”, Tusk said.
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His spokesman confirmed earlier on Thursday that this demand still formed a “core” part of Britain’s renegotiation strategy despite opposition from countries like Poland which have a high level of migration to Britain. The two prime ministers will meet at the head office of the Bulgarian Council of Ministers in the capital city Sofia.
