EU, British officials upbeat about getting reform deal

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels, Jean Claude Juncker said the body he leads should not be blamed for the apparent failure of a flagship relocation policy.

“Even ever-closer union, the role of national parliaments, the relations between the ins and the outs in the euro system, all these are very, very difficult issues and we have to work hard in thiese days to come to agreements”.

British Treasury chief George Osborne said the “essential pieces” of a deal were falling into place.

Britain’s industry and services sector stands to lose billions in trade if the country leaves the EU.

Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said Friday after chairing a meeting of European Union counterparts in Brussels that Italy had not lifted objections to the way the 3 billion euro ($3.3 billion) fund should be paid “but we hope that that is possible very, very soon”.

“There’s no second vote”, he told the BBC.

“That is where the resources of the Treasury are deployed”.

Mr Osborne joined the Prime Minister in insisting he had not ruled out campaigning to leave the European Union if a deal could not be struck but said he was ” optimistic” an agreement could be reached. “I think we’re also going to be able to deal with the abuse of free movement and people traveling just to claim our welfare benefits”.

“What allows me to consider that a deal, a solution could be operational in February?” Mr Faull said there are a “range of possibilities” over the final status of the deal, depending on the substance of what is agreed.

Outlining his priorities for the New Year, Juncker vowed not to abandon his plans to relocate thousands of asylum seekers from Italy and Greece that were finally approved in October despite opposition from several eastern European capitals.

The spokesman said this was within the terms of Mr Cameron’s letter earlier this week, in which he told ministers that collective Cabinet responsibility would be suspended once the negotiations were concluded, but that until then they should “continue to support the position set out in our manifesto”.

“Without the freedom of movement of workers, without the freedom of the citizen to travel, the euro makes no sense”, Juncker said.