Euro crisis 'opportunity for UK' to reclaim powers - PM

The current turmoil in Europe is an opportunity for the UK to "refashion" its relationship with Brussels, said British Prime Minister, David Cameron.

In a speech in London, the Prime Minister said that powers should "ebb back" from Brussels to Westminster as part of "fundamental" future reform.

Although the EU is "out of touch" on many issues, he said it is not in the UK's national interest to exit.

The PM is under pressure from many of his MPs to renegotiate UK membership.

Some Conservatives want to go further and leave the EU altogether.

The Prime Minister's authority was directly challenged last month when 81 Tory MPs defied the leadership and voted for a referendum on the UK's continued place in the EU.

Cameron used a major foreign policy speech in the City of London to argue that the eurozone financial crisis has challenged long-standing assumptions about how the EU should evolve and its 27 members must now ask what kind of union they want in the future. It was a speech heavy on the criticism, but there was little in the way of concrete solutions to Europe's current woes.

David Cameron said the EU is an organisation in peril. It was out of touch and he blamed it for pointless interference.

The comments will be welcomed by eurosceptics in his own party who have pushed him to do more to rebalance the relationship between EU institutions and parliament.

But the UK will not be leaving, he said. Britain must stay in the EU so it can retain its influence over the open and free markets that Cameron said he wants to see more of.

The reality is that the UK is not in the Euro, so not in a position to have huge influence over its fate. However, the Prime Minister believes stability and an end to the debt crisis is crucial for any chance of a recovery in the UK economy.

BBC