Britain is better off remaining inside the European Union, EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker wrote in a British newspaper on Tuesday, as he prepares to hear London’s demands for reform of the bloc.
“I believe that the EU is better with Britain in it and that Britain is better within the EU. And I believe that in key areas we can achieve much more by acting collectively than we could each on our own,” Juncker wrote in The Times.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has said he will send to Brussels early next month a written list of reforms he wants the bloc to make before he will recommend voters back continued EU membership in a referendum he will call within two years.
Juncker, a former premier of Luxembourg whose appointment as president of the European Commission Cameron tried to block last year, said he had promised a “fair deal for Britain” and would work with “pragmatism” in the renegotiation.
Citing the slow economy and the Greek debt crisis, Islamist attacks in Europe, migration and insecurity in nearby regions, he said: “It is on these big issues, that I believe European nations need to work together to look for common solutions.”
He also highlighted his efforts to cut back on the volume of EU regulation — a common complaint against Brussels in Britain.