Thursday’s talks over dinner were the first time European Union leaders had discussed Mr Cameron’s reform proposals in detail.
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Mr Cameron said: “The British people, and I totally share this view, feel that in recent years the pressure of new arrivals has just been too great, and part of that pressure is caused by the fact that we have a very generous top-up welfare system which means sometimes you can train as a nurse or a doctor in some less well-off European countries and, having finished your training, it actually pays you to work in an unskilled job in the United Kingdom rather than continue as a nurse or a doctor in your own country”.
As he arrived at the meeting, Mr Cameron conceded that there would be no deal during the talks, but said he hoped they would bring “real momentum”.
A source close to the talks told POLITICO that although the negotiations on United Kingdom reforms will be at a political level without producing legal texts, Cameron will frame any progress as a victory.
A law being passed by the British parliament stipulates that the referendum must be held by the end of 2017, but Cameron has not set a date.
He has indicated he would be willing to consider alternative ways of cutting immigration “pull factors”, although British officials say no other ideas have yet been tabled.
They are also reluctant to formally acknowledge that the EU is a multi-currency union, even though Britain and Denmark opted out of the euro and seven other countries have yet to adopt it. In doing so he contradicts Labour’s 2015 general election manifesto which said migrants should be required to wait for two years to receive benefits. “If it is legitimate to listen to Cameron, it is not acceptable to re-examine the basis of European commitments”.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said leaders “all want a compromise”.
With Europe facing its biggest migrant crisis since World War II, Merkel said she “strongly supports” the border guard scheme, while Tusk – a former Polish premier – said any other solution would be “equally painful”.
But David Cameron has declared he will “battle” to get agreement.
Over dinner in Brussels, Mr Cameron said his demands for limits on welfare benefits for migrants from the European Union were necessary to limit immigration to what he said was his overburdened country and to stop Brussels encroaching on London’s powers.
EU President Donald Tusk said the EU leaders agreed to work for a compromise despite reservations over Cameron’s reforms after what he described as a “make or break” summit at the end of a crisis-filled year.
But although officials are thought to be working on options – such as an “emergency brake” on excessive inflows or a residency test – no other plans have been formally put on the table. I want to look the leaders in the eye and say this is not legal, this is political. The commission said they believe there are solutions.
Other EU leaders drew their hard lines at the summit entrance.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave group, which is campaigning for British exit from the European Union, said Cameron’s negotiating efforts were “trivial” and United Kingdom voters won’t be taken in by his “spin”.
“However what is most hard to accept by all of us, and I think it was stressed in every statement, is that free movement of persons and welfare benefits”.
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Florian Eder, Hans Joachim von der Burchard and Maïa de La Baume contributed to this article.
