BRUSSELS — The six founding nations of the European Union on Tuesday stressed their commitment to seek an “ever closer union” ahead of next week’s summit where Britain is expected to seek a new agreement to help convince a skeptical public to remain part of the EU.
The foreign ministers of host Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg said in a joint statement Tuesday they reconfirm their “strong commitment to Europe and the European project and invite all other member states to join.”
Such momentum goes against the terms British Prime Minister David Cameron will be looking for at next week’s EU summit, where he will seek to obtain reform commitments to give Britain a more independent say in its affairs and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said a few months ago that “quite frankly, the British people do not want to be part of an ever closer union.”
At the same time Britain has said it does not want to hold others back, creating a momentum that could lead a core of nations to integrate much tighter.
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