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#Brexit David Cameron to discuss EU reform with Czech leaders

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david-cameron-warns-against-brexitDavid Cameron will hold talks with the Czech president and prime minister in an effort to win support for his plans, which include curbing EU migration. The PM has said he hopes his reform demands will be agreed at an EU summit next month, paving the way for the UK's in/out EU referendum. But Cameron has said he is ready to be "patient" to get the right deal.

David Cameron is due to meet President Milos Zeman and Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka after leaving the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he spoke about reform with other EU leaders.

The prime minister and EU leaders will meet at a summit of The European Council in Brussels from 18-19 February and will attempt to reach a consensus on his plans, which also include cutting excessive regulation and allowing the UK to opt out of further political integration.

Speaking at Davos, Cameron said: "I very much hope that we can, with the goodwill that is clearly there, reach an agreement at the February European Council. I would like that. I want to confront this issue, I want to deal with it, I want to put that question to the British people in a referendum, and go out and campaign to keep Britain in a reformed European Union. If there is a good deal on the table I will take it, and that's what will happen."

He added: "But I do want to be very clear: if there isn't the right deal, I'm not in a hurry. I can hold my referendum at any time up until the end of 2017, and it's much more important to get this right than to rush it."

David Cameron four aims for renegotiation are:

  • Economic governance: Securing an explicit recognition that the euro is not the only currency of the European Union, to ensure countries outside the eurozone are not disadvantaged. The UK wants safeguards that it will not have to contribute to eurozone bailouts
  • Competitiveness: Setting a target for the reduction of the "burden" of excessive regulation and extending the single market
  • Immigration: Restricting access to in-work and out-of-work benefits to EU migrants. Specifically, ministers want to stop those coming to the UK from claiming certain benefits until they have been resident for four years
  • Sovereignty: Allowing Britain to opt out from further political integration. Giving greater powers to national parliaments to block EU legislation.

Among Cameron's list of reforms, proposals for a four-year ban on migrants claiming in-work benefits have been met with resistance by some EU countries, with the Czech Republic among those most outspoken about their concerns.

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The UK has been working to persuade members of the Visegrad Group - the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Hungary - to support the plans. But in December the group said that, while it would back measures to strengthen competitiveness and increase the role of parliaments, it considered free movement "one of the fundamental values of the European Union and will support no proposal that would be discriminatory or restrictive with regard to this freedom".

The prime minister's spokeswoman confirmed migration measures would be one of the key topics of discussion in Prague on Friday.

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