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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." ...

German Social Democratic Party (SPD) MEP Jo Leinen told The Local on Monday he was unhappy with comments from European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz, who suggested that Britain should be allowed to opt out of the call to work towards “ever closer union” among EU countries. “The only country that has opted out of European integration with special rules in the past decades has been Great Britain,” Schulz told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. “We would only be recognizing what has been true for London for a long time.” But Social Democratic MEP Jo Leinen told The Local that Schulz’s...

Police officers from both countries will in the future mount joint patrols in frontier areas, both in uniform and in plain clothes, it was agreed on Tuesday. […] Aimed primarily at organized crime rings, the new mode of operation will cover a territory extending 25 kilometers into Denmark and 30 kilometers into Germany. Officers will be armed, but it was stressed that weapons will only be used in emergency situations. Germany already has similar border-policing agreements with Poland and the Netherlands. …

New mechanisms to limit eastern European migration and prevent benefit tourism are at the center of a seven-point plan laid out by David Cameron to reform Britain’s relationship with the EU. Writing in the Daily Telegraph on Sunday (16 March), the British Prime Minister said that the EU’s principle of free movement of labor and capital should mean “free movement to take up work, not free benefits”. He added that allowing new countries to join the EU should be accompanied by “new mechanisms in place to prevent vast migrations across the continent.” He also called for the removal of the...

Roger Daltrey, the frontman of The Who, has said he will “never, ever” forgive Labour for their policies on immigration. The singer accused the Labour Party of “destroying the jobs of my mates” by not controlling mass immigration when in power. Mr. Daltrey, 69, said the reason he no longer supports the Labour Party is because of “stupid thinking on Europe” that allowed large numbers of EU nationals to work in England. …

David Cameron wants to remove the commitment to “ever closer union” from the EU treaty, as part of plans to reform Britain’s membership of the bloc. Speaking in a BBC interview Sunday (29 September), on the eve of his Conservative Party’s annual conference in Manchester, the UK prime minister said that the phrase was “not what the British people want and it’s not what I want.” Cameron also repeated his threat to withdraw Britain from the European Convention of Human Rights unless his government is allowed to quickly deport foreign nationals deemed to be a security threat. …

When David Cameron became Tory leader seven years ago, William Hague is said to have delivered a stern warning on the subject of Europe. Stay well away, advised Mr. Hague, who knew from brutal personal experience as Conservative leader the damage it was capable of doing. Mr. Hague added that Europe should be regarded as a bomb that could never be defused, yet might well go off at any moment. The wisest course was to leave well alone and hope for the best. … It has suddenly become very clear that, seven years after the Foreign Secretary delivered his warning,...

Some 5.7 million Spaniards, equivalent to almost one in four, are now seeking work, according to official figures. The country's unemployment rate rose to 24.6% during the April to June quarter, up from 24.4% during the previous quarter. Separately, Spain's third largest bank reported an 80% fall in net profits. CaixaBank said net profits fell to 166m euros ($203m; £129m) during the January to June period. CaixaBank also set aside 2.7bn euros against its property assets, in accordance with reform requirements stipulated by the government in May. On Thursday, Spain's biggest bank, Santander, reported that its profits halved during the...