Commenting on the British Prime Minister David Cameron's speech on the UK's future in the EU, the Chairman of the EPP Group, Joseph Daul, said:

"I find it surprising that after forty years of partnership and common decisions, one of our Member States discovers that it is unhappy and wants to renegotiate the terms for a joint future. It is even more astonishing that it is a Conservative Prime Minister who is trying to wipe out the contributions of his predecessors: Conservative Prime Ministers such as Winston Churchill, Harold Macmillan, Edward Heath, Margaret Thatcher, and John Major, who all helped forge the European Union of today. We will not renegotiate the fundamental principles which have given us peace and prosperity on this continent; principles which were negotiated and accepted by the United Kingdom for forty years.

For sixty years, Europe has worked to create a model that remains a beacon for the rest of the world, one that received last year's Nobel Peace Prize. Europe is no longer just about the nation state. It never was just a Single Market, a single currency or a set of common standards. Europe is above all a community of shared destiny with common values, founded on solidarity and responsibility.

The Prime Minister's speech is a retreat from these common values and a retreat from a shared common future. The United Kingdom was always at its highest point when it was working with its partners, not retreating from them.

Today, I worry that this has been done for electoral purposes more than for the benefit of the British citizens. Europe cannot be taken hostage until 2017.

I want the United Kingdom to be a full Member State of the European Union but, I want a European Britain, just as I want a European France, a European Germany. Europe needs 27 Member States which are fully European. More than anything, we need a united Europe, an integrated Europe, a political Europe and I believe each Member State can contribute to this."

For further information:

Joseph DAUL MEP, Chairman of the EPP Group, Tel: +32-2-2847525

Delia Vlase, Chairman's Spokeswoman, Tel: +32-476-331038

Notes to Editors:

The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 270 Members and 3 Croatian Observer Members.