Poland has said it supports aspects of David Cameron's EU
renegotiation package but plans to limit benefits for EU migrants need
"further discussion.
Speaking as she met Mr Cameron in Warsaw, Polish PM Beata
Szydlo said she backed the UK's plans to boost national sovereignty and raise
competitiveness.
But she said changes to welfare needed to be "ironed
out" to ensure Poles in the UK were not disadvantaged.
Mr Cameron is trying to garner support for an EU-wide deal
in two weeks' time.
He is now in Denmark - a country historically sceptical
about the EU which also retains its own currency - for talks with counterpart
Lars Lokke Rasmussen.
The support of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and
Slovakia - the so-called Visegrad group - is seen as crucial if the prime minister
is to get an agreement to his draft renegotiation package at a summit of EU
leaders on 18 and 19 February, paving the way for a UK referendum in June.
Proposals to curb EU migrants' benefits are the main
sticking point, with Poland and other countries warning that it breaks freedom
of movement rules and discriminates against their citizens.
At a joint news conference in Warsaw, Ms Szydlo said it was
"very important" for the UK to remain in the EU and she threw her
weight behind at least two of Mr Cameron's four main proposed changes, on
giving more power to national parliaments and slashing regulation to make the
EU more dynamic.
"We fully support the prime minister's proposals
regarding solutions that are aimed at improving competitiveness, removing red
tape and granting proper significance to national parliaments," she said.
But she said the welfare changes needed more consideration.
"There are always topics that need to be ironed out," she told
reporters.
Over a million Poles live and work in Britain. Their work is
growing Britain's GDP and we want them to enjoy the same kind of opportunities
for development as Britons."
Mr Cameron said he was working towards a "full
strategic partnership" between the two countries on a range of issues, including
that of security, amid Polish concerns about the growth of Russian influence on
its eastern flank and what Nato's response will be.
He said the two countries had "shared interest in
making sure that Europe is a Europe that respects and understands the
importance of nation states and the role that they play.
The BBC's Central Europe correspondent Adam Easton, in
Warsaw, said the UK should be "cautiously optimistic" about getting
Polish support but there were still differences, particularly over the issue of
an "emergency brake" on in-work benefits.
Countries on the EU's eastern flank are to meet next week
before providing a joint response to the reform package, Hungary's foreign
minister said.
The draft proposals were published by European Council
president Donald Tusk on Tuesday after months of negotiations between UK and EU
officials and pave the way for Britain's EU referendum to take place as early
as June.
An EU source close to the negotiations told the BBC the
proposals had met initial resistance from many countries and Mr Cameron faced
two weeks of "difficult" negotiations before the summit in Brussels.
Among the potential sticking points, the source said, were
Mr Cameron's proposals on changing the EU rules to make it easier for member
states to band together to block EU laws - and plans to protect non-eurozone
countries.
Martin Schulz, the president of the European Parliament,
said MEPs would be asked to "adopt" any agreement so their concerns
would have to be listened to.
In a lecture to the London School of Economics, he said he
wanted the UK to remain in the EU, despite what he described as its
"continuous demands.
However, he said the euro was the currency of the European
Union, so "giving a de facto veto" to the UK over currency-related
issues risked paralysing the eurozone and would be "unacceptable" to
the European Parliament.
Officials from the 28 member states, known as sherpas, have
been meeting in Brussels for the first time since the draft proposals were
published to try to hammer out further compromises.
Mr Cameron is under pressure at home from some members of
his own cabinet, amid claims that they have been prevented from speaking out in
favour of a British exit until an EU-wide agreement is reached.
Culture Secretary John Whittingdale refused to rule out
campaigning to leave the EU, in an interview with The House magazine, saying he
would look at the agreement the prime minister managed to secure.
But there are also continuing tensions among the rival
campaigns to leave the EU, with the Labour group reportedly considering leaving
the umbrella Vote Leave group following recent infighting.
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