In a sign of a broader distrust of London’s motives, Wolfgang Sch?uble, Germany’s finance minister, also lashed out at George Osborne’s “silly” and “unnecessary” record of intervening over the eurozone crisis. Many in Brussels believe London intentionally sought to undermine monetary union, Mr Sch?uble noted.
The chancellor of the exchequer was given this sharp reminder of the uphill task facing the newly elected Conservative government on the same morning Mr Cameron was telling his cabinet he needed treaty change to sell a new deal on Europe to the British public.
Mr Osborne, appointed London’s lead negotiator on Europe after last week’s election, was told clearly by his German counterpart that Britain would not be able to hitch its reform demands to a revamp of the eurozone.
After discussing London’s ideas for reform with Mr Osborne on the margins of the EU finance ministers’ monthly meeting, Mr Sch?uble said any reopening of treaties would not occur for some time. Changes to the eurozone that Berlin is immediately seeking would be achieved “more step by step”, without treaty changes, he said.
“The opinion of the German government has always been that we need treaty changes, whenever, the sooner the better,” Mr Sch?uble told reporters after the meeting. “But the realistic assessment of the German government is that it is not at all certain that this can be achieved quickly.”
Mr Cameron has vowed to schedule an in-out referendum on EU membership by 2017 and a spokesman said he would accelerate the ti