The European response to David Cameron’s immigration speech last week was pretty positive, but at some point between now and the formal renegotiation, someone was going to chuck a fly in the ointment. Last night Poland’s deputy foreign minister Rafal Trzaskowski told Newsnight that his country would have a ‘red line’ against Britain treating immigrants from the EU differently when it comes to benefits. He said:
‘If one wants to get away with all the benefits that are enshrined in the regulation of EU and treat immigrants from EU differently, and for example only pay benefits after four years of their stay in Britain or extradite people who can’t find work, that would be against all the existing laws of the EU and obviously that would be a red line for us.’
What does this mean for Cameron’s renegotiation? Remember that Polish politicians have been very sceptical of the direction David Cameron has been taking his European policy in for a while.
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