Photo Gallery: The Advance of the Salafists
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Democracy is coming to Egypt. But the results may not be to the West's liking. In addition to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafist party al-Nour also has significant support. They would like to see a return to the world of the Prophet Muhammad.

To the gallery » | Wednesday, December 14, 2011
SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Egypt Faces a Hardline Islamic Future: The Islamist Muslim Brotherhood led the way in the first round of parliamentary voting in Egypt. Second place went to the even more hardline Salafist party al-Nour. The group would like to see the introduction of an ultra-conservative brand of Sharia -- and a ban on bikinis. » | Daniel Steinvorth | Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Romney: Gingrich an "Unreliable" Conservative

CBS NEWS: Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is escalating his attacks against Newt Gingrich's conservative credentials, attempting to sow doubt among GOP voters about the current frontrunner.

Romney's campaign released a web video on Wednesday called "Newt and Nancy," which focuses on the 2008 ad that Gingrich made with Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi to promote former Vice President Al Gore's climate change initiative. There are few liberal leaders or issues that conservatives like less than Pelosi or the fight against global warming.

"With friends like Newt, who needs The Left?" the video asks.

Romney also attacked Gingrich for making the ad interview with the Washington Post.

"Let's look at the record," he said. "When Republicans were fighting for cap and trade and needed a leader to stand up against cap and trade, he did an ad with Nancy Pelosi about global warming." » | Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Saudi Arabia Executes Woman Convicted of 'Sorcery'

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi authorities have executed a woman convicted of practicing magic and sorcery.

The Saudi Interior Ministry says in a statement the execution took place on Monday, but gave no details on the woman's crime.

The London-based al-Hayat daily, however, quoted Abdullah al-Mohsen, chief of the religious police who arrested the woman, as saying she had tricked people into thinking she could treat illnesses, charging them $800 per session.

The paper said a female investigator followed up, and the woman was arrested in April, 2009, and later convicted in a Saudi court.

It did not give the woman's name, but said she was in her 60s.

The beheading took to 73 the number of executions in Saudi Arabia this year. » | Monday, December 12, 2011

Coalition at Odds as Nick Clegg Snubs David Cameron
Nick Clegg has laid bare the Coalition’s rift over Europe by refusing to even attend Parliament as David Cameron briefed MPs about his decision to reject the new European treaty.

Read article here | James Kirkup, Deputy Political Editor | Monday, December 12, 2011

The Political and Personal Failings of David Cameron
THE OBSERVER – EDITORIAL: The prime minister's catastrophic performance has left Britain isolated and impotent

Show some bulldog spirit in Brussels, urged one Eurosceptic Tory MP at prime minister's questions last Wednesday. "I will," replied David Cameron. He knew already from his diplomats that nobody at last week's historic summit was likely to offer him the opt-out for financial services regulation that he needed in order to be able to steer new EU legislation aimed at easing the eurozone crisis through the Commons. Without some figleaf that allowed him to claim triumph over the "technocrats", he felt he had no option but to exercise the veto. The alternative would have been a referendum on our relationship with Europe, which in turn would have spelled the collapse of the coalition, and an election before the key constituency boundary changes had been made – and against a background of rising unemployment and painful spending cuts.

The party interest was clear. Faced with a choice between doing the right thing for Britain and Europe – supporting the best designed policy possible within the best possible framework to save the euro – and the right thing for his party, the prime minister unhesitatingly plumped for the soft option. He could expect the first round of newspaper headlines to echo the inane call to show bulldog spirit and they duly delivered. Britain stands alone, they proclaimed. In an increasingly globalised, connected and mobile world, being alone, on an island, is suddenly a good place to be. "No man is an island," John Donne wrote. Try telling that to the rump of Conservative MPs who steered Cameron towards this lonely place.

But what was Britain standing alone against. Why [What] did it show its bulldog spirit for? The list of demands to protect Britain's financial services industry from the Brussels "diktat" was phony. A financial transactions tax can only be levied by unanimity, so there was no threat to British interests. There was no EU proposal to limit the amount of bank capital requirements, as has been claimed in justification for the veto, which might have prevented the implantation of the Vickers proposals, which, in any case, Downing Street has been dragging its feet over.

The rest of the British demands – trying to limit second order regulatory proposals in financial services at some time in the future – were trivial. Our financial services industry employs around a million people; probably 10,000 to 20,000 of them might have been affected by possible EU regulatory proposals over the next 10 years – and those largely confined to hedge funds and trading desks of investment banks. This is a tiny interest to be heralded as a major national priority, one for which our relations with Europe are now jeopardised.

Cameron used the nuclear weapon of a treaty veto to combat a non[-]existent threat. The bulldog bared its teeth and Europe turned its back in disdain. They shrugged and got to work. A toothless bulldog has roared off into the wilderness – powerless, isolated, pointless. This must be one of the most reckless positions any British government has adopted in an international forum in recent history. » | Editorial | Sunday, December 11, 2011

'As an Act of Crass Stupidity, This Has Rarely Been Equalled'
THE OBSERVER: David Cameron has made a crucial misjudgment, simply to appease the City and his own jingoistic rightwingers

The Tories are one of the world's most enduring political parties. But this long life is built on its cultural attractiveness to parts of the English middle class, especially in the home counties, rather than on its political judgments, which have, over the centuries, been almost continuously wrong, especially in foreign policy.

It was wrong to resist revolutions in France and the US; wrong to go slow over abolishing the slave trade; wrong to champion the Corn Laws; wrong to embrace appeasement in the 1930s; wrong to contest the decolonisation of India. The British right's instincts – jingoistic, imperialistic, anti-progressive and isolationist – have consistently led this country into calamities. Today, once again, the Conservative right, indulging its atavistic instincts and egged on by a no less atavistic right-of-centre press, is landing the country in the soup. » | Will Hutton | Sunday, December 11, 2011

There's Little Point in Britain Staying in the EU Now – Bill Cash Has Won

THE GUARDIAN: All key European decisions are now out of our hands. The Tory Eurosceptics have won their once-lonely battle

The massive slump in imports into the UK announced on Friday is in many ways more important than Bill Cash's victory in Brussels. The voice we are hearing is that of David Cameron, but the script has been written by Bill Cash. His long (and initially lonely) campaign to reduce Britain's place and influence in Europe is now gathering speed. There is now little point in Britain being in the EU as all the key decisions will be taken by the 17 eurozone nations, plus the six which want to join the euro. Denmark keeps its currency but the Danish opt-out is purely nominal as the Danish crown follows the ECB policy in all regards and Danish exports are based on quality of goods, not a devalued currency.

Economic analysts are urging caution on the better trade figures announced today. The main news is the massive slump in imports as British demand shrinks thanks to the drop in consumption brought about by government policies. Britain is not spending and banks are not lending, so it is little wonder that fewer goods are coming into the UK. In that sense Britain is part of the generalised crisis of the EU economic zone. Tories and the rightwing press have sought to paint the EU as the source of the UK's economic troubles. It would be more accurate to report that weak, near-recession UK economic policy is doing serial damage to the rest of Europe, which no longer find buyers for their goods and services in Britain.

Bloomberg Business News has noted that manufacturing shrank "at the fastest pace in two and a half years in November". So much for rebalancing. And David Cameron, whose family wealth comes from the City, showed that in Brussels he would prefer to leave Britain isolated rather than negotiate a deal with the rest of Europe for a new treaty that began to move Europe away from the era of unchallenged, unregulated finance capitalism that brought about the crash of 2008, and provoked the subsequent recession. » | Denis MacShane | Saturday, December 10, 2011

Now It's Three-speed Europe. And We're Left on the Hard Shoulder

THE OBSERVER: This abject defeat for British diplomacy is the more striking because Mr Cameron's demands were quite modest

Veto is a powerful word. It sounds presidential. It smacks of decisiveness. It rings with defiance. So in every interview he has given since the Brussels summit, David Cameron has boasted of wielding "the veto". For a day or two, it might just gull the more simple-minded Eurosceptics in his party that their prime minister did something tremendously strong when he left himself and his country in a minority of one.

Yet in all the dictionaries that I am familiar with, "to veto" is to prevent something from happening. While it is technically true that he "vetoed" an EU-wide treaty, the prime minister did not actually stop anything meaningful at all. The only thing he has blocked is British influence over negotiations vital to this country's future.

The rest of the European Union simply shrugged at his "veto" and will now proceed to try to fashion a new regime for the eurozone without a British voice in the room. The prime minister's agenda is left in shreds. He did not get the protocol he wanted to exempt the UK from European regulation of financial services and Britain's exclusion from the negotiations means that he is now even less likely to secure one in the future. He may get a hero's welcome from some of the Tory Eurosceptics who are exulting in Britain's isolation and celebrating this as the most magnificent performance since Margaret Thatcher wielded the handbag. But that is likely to prove to be very short-lived. They forget that Mrs T never made the mistake of leaving an empty chair where Britain ought to be sitting. Once their initial euphoria has worn off, Tory sceptics will discover that this outcome does not advance their ambition to repatriate powers from Brussels – it has made it even harder to achieve.

This abject defeat for British diplomacy, arguably the worst reverse in many decades, is the more striking because what he sought in Brussels was not that extravagant. He did not go to the summit – as some of the frothier sceptics in his party had been demanding – seeking the immediate and unconditional return of a fistful of powers. He argued merely to be allowed to hold on to some rights that Britain already has. The British demands were – at least from a British perspective – really very modest. One cabinet minister describes them as not much more than "a fig leaf" so that the prime minister wouldn't be left naked before his Eurosceptic backbenchers. » | Andrew Rawnsley | Sunday, December 11, 2011

Paddy Ashdown: We Have Tipped 38 Years of Foreign Policy Down the Drain
THE GUARDIAN: David Cameron has isolated us in Europe and diminished us in Washington's eyes

When Hugh Gaitskell sat down after making his "end of a thousand years of history" speech against joining Europe at the Labour conference of 1962, he turned to his wife and said: "Look how many are clapping, dear!" She replied: "Yes, dear. But it's the wrong people who are clapping."

This weekend, it's the Eurosceptics who are clapping. Many British newspapers are clapping Mr Cameron for "standing up for Britain" – at last. French ones are clapping M Sarkozy for sticking it up "la perfide Albion" – at last. Those who see Britain as Norway without the oil or Switzerland with nuclear weapons are clapping. But those of us who believe our island's greatness has been about taking the risks of engagement rather than the false security of isolation, feel bereft, sad and depressed.

It wasn't because Mr Cameron's demands were immodest that we are here: they had been negotiated down within the coalition to very little indeed (and preceded by dozens of smoothing European calls from Nick Clegg). Almost nothing was unique for Britain except the right to have stronger regulation for the City.

Mr Cameron's "asks" were rejected, not because they were too great – but because it was he who made them. No other British prime minister of recent years would have had difficulty getting this package through. This was Gallic pay-back time for all that unwise Cameron lecturing – and sometimes worse – from the sidelines these last months. I suspect that if he had asked for a cup of tea, Sarkozy would not have lost the opportunity to refuse it. Not a statesmanlike reaction from Sarkozy to be sure; but a human one.

Beneath the tragedy of last Thursday night, lies a deeper and more disturbing fact than Sarkozy's pique. Long years of anti-European prejudice from the Tory Eurosceptics, laced with downright insults from their supporting press, have now generated a growing anti-British prejudice in many European capitals, not just Paris. » | Paddy Ashdown | Saturday, December 10, 2011

EU Treaty: Britain Now Faces a Europe That Is Becoming Hostile

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Britain faces a wave of hostile legislation battered through the European Union by a new "Euro-Plus" bloc dominated by France and Germany as senior figures call for the British to be driven out of Europe.

David Cameron's refusal to unconditionally agree to a eurozone "stability union" treaty has polarised relations between Britain and EU at a time when the economic crisis has sharpened European power struggles.

As attitudes harden, senior European politicians and officials are warning that the Prime Minister's stand will have severe consequences for Britain.

Martin Schulz, the German MEP who will become the president of the European Parliament early next year, predicted that Britain could be forced to quit the EU.

"I doubt in the long term whether Britain will stay in the EU," he said.

"The EU can, if necessary, do without Britain, but Britain would have more difficulty without the EU."

In a sign that Anglo-German relations are at a new low, the point was echoed by Gunther Krichbaum, the chairman of the Bundestag's powerful EU committee, a political ally of Angela Merkel.

"The Treaty of Lisbon explicitly opens the possibility of a country's withdrawal," he said. "The British must now decide whether they are for or against Europe."

Der Spiegel predicted that as British applause died away, Mr Cameron would quickly be put to the test as the EU bit back. "He has completely isolated his country on the European stage - and many in his country applaud him for it. But he will soon have to prove that London still has clout in the EU," the popular magazine warned.

A headline in the establishment French newspaper Le Monde warned that a "27-member Europe is finished" after Mr Cameron's veto of a new EU treaty to fix the eurozone debt crisis.

The newspaper called the decision "a choice with major consequences, that will bring about the emergence of a two-speed Europe, from which the UK may be increasingly excluded by core eurozone countries guided for better or for worse by Germany and France," [sic]

Le Figaro, the newspaper closest to Nicolas Sarkozy, trumpeted a "new era of isolation" for Britain. Its website poll asking "does the UK still have a place in Europe?" quickly attracted 40,000 respondents and 81 per cent answered "Non".

Elmar Brok, a senior German Christian Democrat MEP close to Chancellor Merkel, said the EU "must now marginalise Britain, so that the country comes to feel its loss of influence". Read on and comment » | Bruno Waterfield, Brussels | Saturday, December 10, 2011

My comment:

I can't say I'm surprised by the hostility. Britain deserves it. Cameron especially. He has behaved like a spoilt child in a party. Maybe he has done wonders for his rich City friends, but he has done absolutely nothing for the British people.

It seems that Cameron's expensive, élitist education has done absolutely nothing for his understanding of European politics. He is a nobody now on the international political scene. He may well soon be a has-been, too.

He will come to regret this foolish decision. Unfortunately, the people of Britain will have to pay the highest price for his petulance. – © Mark

This comment also appears here

Londres s'éloigne de l'Union européenne

LE FIGARO: Le veto historique de David Cameron au nouvel accord européen lance une nouvelle ère d'isolement pour le Royaume-Uni en Europe.

En choisissant la fermeté face à ses alliés européens, David Cameron a pris le parti d'un isolement de la Grande-Bretagne en Europe. Pour la première fois, les Britanniques ont utilisé leur veto pour s'opposer à leurs alliés traditionnels français et allemands. Poussé par sa majorité eurosceptique, le premier ministre a donc décidé d'aller au clash et de bloquer un projet de changement de traité, faute d'avoir obtenu les garanties souhaitées sur la City de Londres.

«J'ai dû poursuivre obstinément ce qui était de l'intérêt national britannique, a-t-il déclaré vendredi matin à Bruxelles, visiblement très remonté. Ce n'est pas facile d'être dans une pièce où des gens vous pressent de signer quelque chose en vous disant que c'est dans votre intérêt. Il est parfois juste de dire : “Je ne peux pas faire ça, ce n'est pas dans notre intérêt. Je ne veux pas présenter cela à mon Parlement parce que je ne peux pas le recommander en toute conscience, donc je vais dire non et exercer mon veto”.» » | Par Florentin Collomp | vendredi 09 décembre 2011

Grossbritannien blockiert am EU-Krisengipfel
Nur 17 der 27 Euro-Länder haben sich an einem neuen Stabilitätsabkommen beteiligt. Einschätzungen der SF-Korrespondenten Jonas Projer aus Brüssel und Peter Balzli aus London.

Palestinians Are an Invented People, Says Newt Gingrich
THE GUARDIAN: Republican frontrunner says Israelis have a right to their modern-day homeland but implies Palestinians do not


The US Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich has declared that the Palestinians are an "invented" people who want to destroy Israel.

The Jewish Channel, a cable TV station, posted online its interview with the former US House speaker, who has risen to the top of Republican nomination candidates to challenge Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 2012 election.

Gingrich differed from official US policy that respects the Palestinians as a people deserving of their own state based on negotiations with Israel. "Remember, there was no Palestine as a state. It was part of the Ottoman Empire" until the early 20th century, Gingrich said.

"I think that we've had an invented Palestinian people who are in fact Arabs and who were historically part of the Arab community. And they had a chance to go many places, and for a variety of political reasons we have sustained this war against Israel now since the 1940s, and it's tragic," he said. » | Associated Press | Saturday, December 10, 2011

Cameron Is a Coward: European Politicians Slam British EU Veto

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Following David Cameron's veto of EU treaty reform, there is plenty of frustration in Europe over Britain's stubborn attitude in the battle against the debt crisis. Prominent members of the European Parliament have strongly criticized the British prime minister and sent him a clear message: Europe doesn't need you.

It is an irony of history -- on this very day 20 years ago, the Maastricht Treaty was signed, bringing the European Union into existence. On Dec. 9 and 10, 1991, the 12 leaders of the European Community agreed to the groundbreaking agreement and a historic project was set on its way.

Two decades on, and with the European debt crisis in full flow, the EU is facing its toughest test so far. Now one person stands out as the most divisive figure: David Cameron. Following marathon talks on Thursday night, the British prime ministervetoed a change in the EU treaties as called for by German Chancellor Angela Merkeland French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Cameron's use of his veto has provided for much discontent within the European Parliament. "It was a mistake to admit the British into the European Union," said Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, a prominent German MEP with the business-friendly Free Democrats, and vice chair of ALDE, the liberal block in the European Parliament. The UK must now renegotiate its relationship with the EU, he said. "Either they do it by themselves, or the EU will be founded anew -- without Great Britain," Lambsdorff said. "Switzerland is also a possible role model for the British," he added, refering to the fiercely independent stance of the Alpine country, which is not an EU member.

Harsh Attacks and Clear Frustration

There has also been sharp criticism of Cameron's attitude from the co-chairman of the Greens group in the European Parliament, Franco-German politician Daniel Cohn-Bendit. "Cameron is a coward," he said. He accused the British prime minister of not wanting to deal with the conflict over the Europe Union within his Conservative Party. Cameron, he said, had "manoeuvred himself into a populist corner" from which he would no longer emerge.

Elmar Brok, a member of Germany's conservative Christian Democratic Union and foreign policy spokesman for the center-right European People's Party (EPP), said: "If you're not willing to stick to the rules, you should keep your mouth shut."

These are harsh attacks. But despite all the frustration, the message is clear: The European project can not be allowed to collapse because of the UK's obstinate attitude towards the debt crisis. Cameron's critics are sending a clear signal to London: If necessary, things can carry on without you. Those critics are clearly hoping that Britain's decision will come back to haunt it at some point, and that the country will come to realize what a serious mistake it was committing when it turned its back on Europe. » | Veit Medick and Annett Meiritz | Friday, December 09, 2011

Brüsseler Beschlüsse: "Anfang vom Ende der britischen EU-Mitgliedschaft"
WELT ONLINE: Die Beschlüsse zur Euro-Rettung werden in Wirtschaftskreisen positiv bewertet. Aber das britische Nein gilt als "gigantisches Eigentor" mit Folgen.

Die Beschlüsse des Brüsseler Euro-Krisengipfels sind in Wirtschaftskreisen auf ein positives Echo gestoßen. Aus der Politik wurde aber scharfe Kritik an der Weigerung des Nicht-Eurolandes Großbritannien laut, die Vertragsänderungen zur Stabilisierung des Euro mitzutragen.

"Es ist der erste der europäischen Krisengipfel, nach dem die Finanzmärkte nicht sagen werden: Zu wenig und zu spät", sagte Deutsche-Bank-Chefvolkswirt Thomas Mayer der "Passauer Neuen Presse". Es sei auch der erste Gipfel gewesen, der nicht aktuelles Krisenmanagement betrieben,sondern nach vorne geschaut habe.

"Die neue Fiskalarchitektur stellt einen Qualitätssprung dar", lobte Mayer, schränkte aber ein: "Die weniger gute Nachricht ist, dass völlig unklar ist, wie der Weg bis dahin aussieht."

Auch der Wirtschaftsweise Wolfgang Franz sprach von einem Weg in die richtige Richtung. Die Länder müssten jetzt nicht nur auf einen soliden Kurs der Haushaltskonsolidierung einschwenken, sondern auch ihre Wirtschaftskraft mit durchgreifenden Reformen stärken, sagte der Vorsitzende des Sachverständigenrates dem "Südkurier" (Samstag).

Kritik an der britischen Verweigerungshaltung übte der designierte Präsident des EU-Parlaments, Martin Schulz (SPD). "Ich habe Zweifel, ob Großbritannien langfristig in der EU bleibt", sagte er der "Bild am Sonntag." Noch nie sei Großbritannien in der EU so isoliert gewesen. (+ Video) » | dpa/mac | Samstag 10. Dezember 2011

Angela Merkel: 'I Don't Believe David Cameron Was Ever with Us at the Table'
THE GUARDIAN: The Germans and French were ready to accommodate Britain's difficulties but were not prepared to write them into a new treaty

"I have not and have no plans to attend any wife swapping parties," David Cameron said in Brussels shortly before he flew back to Britain, in one of the more startling statements by a British prime minister at an European summit.

His jovial remark stemmed from reports that a French official had said late on Thursday that Britain's attempts to secure concessions in negotiations about the euro were akin to a man going to a wife swapping party without his wife (it turned out that the actual French quote was fruitier).

There was some method to it, designed as it was to show that the prime minister is not alarmed by warnings from across the EU that he has marginalised Britain after vetoing a revision of the Lisbon treaty, paving the way for virtually every other EU member state to agree to a treaty outside the architecture of the EU to underpin tough new rules for the eurozone.

The French briefing illustrated that France had detected even before the summit had started that Cameron was isolated. Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, drove this point home during nearly 10 hours of negotiations through Thursday night and into Friday morning. By 5am, when Sarkozy strode out of the summit room to declare that Britain had blocked a revision of the Lisbon treaty, France had taken a major step towards one of its long-standing strategic goals – the creation of a "two speed" Europe in which France and Germany surge ahead, leaving Britain to bring up the rear.

The reaction was swift and cutting. One Brussels veteran said: "I have always felt that the UK will just stumble out of the EU. This confirms that view. We are reaping the wind of 30 years of vitriolic UK press coverage." » | Nicholas Watt and Ian Traynor in Brussels | Friday, December 09, 2011

Meryl Streep: What Amazed Me about Margaret Thatcher
Portraying the former prime minister in The Iron Lady was a gruelling – and revelatory – experience, Meryl Streep tells John Hiscock.

Read the article here | John Hiscock | Friday, December 08, 2011

Did Nicolas Sarkozy Snub David Cameron's Handshake at EU Treaty Summit?
The body language between the David Cameron and French President Nicolas Sarkozy was tense today after talks ended this morning with Britain opting out a Franco-German proposal for an intergovernmental European treaty.

EU-Gipfel: Camerons Blockade spaltet Großbritannien
FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE: Eigentlich wollten Angela Merkel und Nicolas Sarkozy die EU-Verträge ändern, doch der britische Premierminister David Cameron macht nicht mit. Seine Blockadehaltung bringt ihm daheim Applaus von den Euroskeptikern. Seine Kritiker werfen ihm vor, das Land zu isolieren.

Die Blockadehaltung von Großbritanniens Premierminister David Cameron in Brüssel hat in seiner Heimat gespaltene Reaktionen ausgelöst. Die Europakritiker in seiner eigenen Partei, den konservativen Tories, jubelten ihm am Freitag zu und forderten noch drastischere Schritte hin zu mehr Unabhängigkeit von der Europäischen Union. Die Opposition hingegen warf ihm vor, das Land zu isolieren und damit ein hohes Risiko einzugehen. » | Quelle: FAZ.NET mit dpa | Freitag 09. Dezember 2011

Eurozone Countries Go It Alone with New Treaty that Excludes Britain
THE GUARDIAN: David Cameron loses bid to shield City of London from EU regulation and critics warn 'dangerous' move isolates UK


Britain is facing isolation in Europe after David Cameron vetoed a revision of the Lisbon treaty, prompting a majority of EU members to agree to draw up their own deal outside the architecture of the union.

In one of the most significant developments in Britain's 38-year membership of the EU, the British prime minister said early on Friday morning he could not allow a "treaty within a treaty" that would undermine the UK's position in the single market.

The move marked a victory for Nicolas Sarkozy, who had been pressing for an inter-governmental agreement among the 17 members of the eurozone to underpin tough new fiscal rules for the single currency. "We could not accept this," he said of Cameron's demands.

The French president, who has been pressing for the formalisation of a "two-speed Europe", was pleased on Friday when the number of EU member states indicating their support for a separate treaty reached 23. Britain was joined by Sweden, which rejected euro membership in a referendum, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, who had hoped to agree a revision of the Lisbon treaty, said she believed the accord would stabilise the euro. "I have always said, the 17 states of the eurogroup have to regain credibility," she said. "And I believe with today's decisions this can and will be achieved."

Cameron wielded the British veto in the early hours of the morning after France succeeded in blocking a series of safeguards demanded by Britain to protect the City of London. Cameron had demanded that: » | Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent, in Brussels | Friday, December 09, 2011