WARSAW, Poland (AP) – Britain’s prime minister and Poland’s leaders said Thursday that there is goodwill but no compromise yet between the two nations over British attempts to reform European Union welfare rules that could affect Polish migrant workers in the U.K.
David Cameron held talks late Wednesday and early Thursday with Polish leaders, seeking support for his package of EU reforms. Britain will hold a referendum by the end of 2017 to decide whether to leave the 28-nation bloc. Cameron wants to stay in if he can secure certain reforms.
For Prime Minister Beata Szydlo, it marked the first meeting with a foreign leader in Warsaw since she and her conservative government took power last month.
Before Cameron’s arrival, Szydlo warned that Cameron’s plans to cut welfare benefits to migrant workers, part of his larger EU reform agenda, was “unacceptable.” But at a news conference Thursday, the tone between the two was friendly.
“We are looking for agreement,” Cameron said. “We haven’t achieved that agreement yet, but I think what you’ve heard from the prime minister here in Poland, as from other leaders, is that there’s goodwill, there’s wanting to keep Britain within a reformed European Union.”