Cameron: ‘It’s time to stop tinkering, for boldness not caution’

DAVID Cameron will tell European leaders today that the time for tinkering is over and that the European Union needs to be overhauled to make it competitive.

In his speech to the World Economic Forum at Davos in Switzerland, Mr Cameron will make it clear he is running out of patience and will demand leadership from the eurozone governments.

He is expected to say: “This is a time to show the leadership our people are demanding. Tinkering here and there and hoping we’ll drift to a solution simply won’t cut it any more.

“This is a time for boldness not caution. Boldness in what we do nationally – and together as a continent.”

The Prime Minister will set out ideas to restore Europe’s competitiveness, saying: “Europe’s lack of competitiveness remains its Achilles’ Heel. For all the talk, the Lisbon Strategy has failed to deliver the structural reforms we need.

“The Single Market remains incomplete. And there are still a colossal 4,700 professions across the EU to which access is regulated by government. And that’s not all. We are still doing things to make life even harder.

“In the name of social protection, the EU has promoted unnecessary measures that impose burdens on businesses and governments, and can destroy jobs.

“We can’t go on like this. That is why Britain has been arguing for a pro-business agenda in Europe.”

Mr Cameron will also call for a new approach to world trade by removing barriers across the globe.

He will say: “Let’s not give up on free trade. Let’s step forward with a new and ambitious set of ideas to take trade forwards.”

Mr Cameron angered fellow European leaders last year by vetoing a new treaty which would have allowed the eurozone to be bound closer together forcing its members to submit budgets to Brussels for approval.

But his attack on European leaders today is understood to be mainly aimed at German Chancellor Angela Merkel amid clamours from his own backbench, led by Sir Peter Tapsell, the Father of the House, that increased support to the International Monetary Fund would be a “subsidy” for Germany, which is seen by critics as the main block to decisive action.

Mrs Merkel spoke at Davos yesterday. Questioned on whether an increase in the eurozone’s rescue funds would reassure markets, she responded that Europe had already lost a lot of confidence by failing to deliver on its past promises.

“Now they say ‘it should be twice as big’,” she said referring to calls on her to back increases in eurozone rescue funds.

“‘If it were twice as big, we’d believe you’. Some say ‘it should even be three times as big, then we’d really believe you.’ And I always ask myself how long is that credible and when is that no longer credible.”