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With Nick Clegg, Britain's deputy prime minister, calling the decision to veto a new E.U. treaty "bad for Britain," Prime Minister David Cameron will be forced to defend his decision in Parliament on Monday, the Financial Times of London reported.[1]  --  Clegg said on a BBC program that he was "bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last week’s summit, precisely because I think now there is a danger that the U.K. will be isolated and marginalized within the European Union.”[2]  --  In a conversation posted on the Financial Times website, editor-in-chief Lionel Barber said the U.K. is "in a very sticky position," meaning "difficult and awkward" in British slang.  --  On Cameron's position, Barber said that domestic politics had forced him into it.  --  But Barber said "this may still fail," referring to the agreement reached in Brussels on Dec. 9.  --  "What we don't know is whether Italy, currently borrowing, as you say, at over six and a half percent -- can they ever get back to pre-crisis levels?  If not, the game's up anyway," Barber said.  --  "The fact that the E.U. leaders, pressed by France and Germany, have agreed to new fiscal rules, a new fiscal compact, is the essential precondition for a more aggressive ECB [European Central Bank] stance," Barber added.  "In that sense, we have not seen the full story yet.  Mr. Draghi may show that second hand in the next few weeks."  --  John Authers, who has played many roles in his 21-year career at the Financial Times, added:  "Mario Draghi is prepared to be the lender of last resort for the European banking system.  We don't yet know whether he is prepared to be the lender of last resort to the European governments, for European sovereign credit, and we don't yet know whether this new deal, this new compact, without the U.K., will be enough to persuade him to take on such a role." ...

1.

[Excerpts]

World

U.K.

CAMERON PREPARES TO DEFEND EUROPE VETO
By George Parker

Financial Times (London)
December 11, 2011

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/d1366672-241d-11e1-bbe6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gITXQmLX (subscribers only)

David Cameron, U.K. prime minister, will on Monday defend his decision to veto a new E.U. treaty to enforce fiscal discipline in the eurozone, amid warnings from his coalition deputy that it could leave Britain “isolated and marginalized.”

Nick Clegg, deputy prime minister, said the veto was “bad for Britain” and could make it harder for the U.K. to punch its weight in Europe and to persuade Washington that it was a serious player in the E.U.

. . .

Mr. Cameron decided to veto the E.U. treaty in the early hours of the morning, bowing to pressure from his fiercely Eurosceptic party to withhold his support unless he won “reasonable” concessions at the Brussels talks.

. . .

The deputy prime minister approved of Mr. Cameron’s negotiating tactics -- which included demanding a number of safeguards for the City of London -- but says he was not told the talks had “spectacularly unravelled” until after the prime minister issued his veto.

. . .

But recriminations are flying around the British government at what happened.  Mr Clegg believes Mr. Cameron was forced to issue the veto by the overwhelming might of his Eurosceptic backbenchers, although he said French and German “intransigence” was also to blame.

‘There’s nothing bulldog about Britain hovering somewhere in the mid-Atlantic, not standing tall in Europe, not being taken seriously in Washington,” Mr. Clegg said.

Meanwhile Britain’s diplomatic service are furious at what they see as heavy-handedness by Number 10, which only presented its demands for City safeguards shortly ahead of last week’s summit.

Mr. Clegg . . . has also warned Mr. Cameron that Britain must not try to stop the eurozone countries from using E.U. institutions -- such as the European Commission and European Court of Justice -- to ensure that the new eurozone “fiscal compact” has teeth.

2.

[Excerpts]

World

Europe

CLEGG WARNS OF ISOLATION AFTER E.U. VOTE
By Helen Warrell

Financial Times (London)
December 11, 2011

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/4b05f05c-23ed-11e1-bbe6-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1gITXQmLX (subscribers only)

Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, says he was “bitterly disappointed” by the outcome of the Brussels summit, but breaking up the U.K. coalition would spell “economic disaster” for Britain.

Mr. Clegg, Liberal Democrat leader and a life-long pro-European, warned on Sunday that David Cameron’s refusal to join European Union treaty negotiations would cause Britain to be become increasingly marginalized as the 26 other member states begin the process of setting out a new budgetary framework.

“I’m bitterly disappointed by the outcome of last week’s summit, precisely because I think now there is a danger that the U.K. will be isolated and marginalized within the European Union,” Mr. Clegg told the BBC’s "Andrew Marr Show."  “I don’t think that’s good for jobs, in the City or elsewhere, I don’t think it’s good for growth, I don’t think it’s good for families up and down the country.”

He added that forming and maintaining good relationships in Europe was central to his political credo.  “All my political life, I have believed that Britain is stronger, better greater, when we lead, when we stand tall in Europe because by the way, if we stand tall in Europe, we’re taken seriously in Washington,” the deputy prime minister said.  “If we don’t stand tall in Europe, I don’t think Washington will be particularly interested in us.”

. . .

But when asked whether he would consider pulling the Lib Dems out of the coalition, Mr. Clegg was adamant this would be the wrong decision.  “It would be even more damaging for us as a country if coalition government was now to fall apart . . . It would create economic disaster,” he said.

While Mr. Clegg did not criticize Mr. Cameron personally, Lord Ashdown, former Lib Dem party leader, was scathing of the prime minister in an interview with Sky News.  Describing the U.K. veto as a “catastrophically bad move,” Lord Ashdown said that it wasn’t that the U.K.’s requests were unacceptable, but that the prime minister had failed in the negotiations process.

“Almost every other prime minister in recent times would have had no problem getting this deal through in the interests of Britain,” he said.

Douglas Alexander, shadow foreign secretary, concurred, telling Mr. Marr that Mr. Cameron’s tactics had been “economically inadequate and politically disastrous.”

. . .