How to make the case

AFTER five months of vague statements of intent, David Cameron has at last set out in concrete terms his demands for changes in Britain’s relations with the European Union. The prime minister wants to make a deal with the EU’s leaders in December or early next year that would allow him to recommend a vote to remain in the union when he holds his planned referendum. Preparing for a fight, he insisted he was deadly serious and even threatened that, if he did not secure what he wanted, he might campaign to leave.In truth his proposals, well trailed in advance, are small stuff, carefully calibrated to be winnable (see ). Some are cosmetic, such as exempting Britain from the goal of “ever closer union”. Others sound big but aren’t: a four-year wait before EU migrants claim welfare benefits is unlikely to cut the numbers drawn by Britain’s booming jobs market. Worthy demands for more trade deals and a bigger single market are already being met. And the main item on his wishlist is weighty but technocratic: guarantees that euro-zone countries cannot discriminate against non-euro members like Britain.