Deal on EU renegotiation 'very tough'

Reaching a deal on David Cameron's EU renegotiation goals will be "very, very tough", European Council President Donald Tusk has said.

In his first comment since the UK prime minister wrote to him setting out his objectives, Mr Tusk said there was "no guarantee" of a deal by December.

"I have to say that it will be really difficult to find an agreement," added the European Council president.

Talks and sounding out other countries will start next week.

Mr Tusk made his comments at an emergency EU summit on migration, in Malta, which Mr Cameron was not able to attend because of the visit of Indian prime minister Narendra Modi to the UK.

'Is that it?'

The Council president said the chances of getting a deal on the UK's demands by the time EU leaders next met at a summit in a month's time were not high.

"Their requests are tough and this is why this matter was so interesting for me, but I have to say that it would be really difficult to find an agreement and for sure there is no guarantee that we can do this by December," said Mr Tusk.

Mr Cameron bowed to pressure from other EU leaders and set out the UK's four key demands in the negotiations on Tuesday.

He is keen to press ahead with an in/out referendum but has said he will not announce the date of it, which must be before the end of 2017, until he has secured an agreement from the other EU leaders.

In his letter Mr Cameron said four objectives lay at the heart of the UK's renegotiations:

Protection of the single market for Britain and other non-euro countries

Boosting competitiveness by setting a target for the reduction of the "burden" of red tape

Exempting Britain from "ever-closer union" and bolstering national parliaments

Restricting EU migrants' access to in-work benefits such as tax credits

If the demands are met, Mr Cameron said "I am ready to campaign with all my heart and soul to keep Britain inside a reformed European Union".

At a press conference on Tuesday, he hit back at claims by former Tory Chancellor Lord Lawson that the four goals were "disappointingly unambitious", saying they reflected what the British people wanted and would be "good for Britain and good for the European Union".

"It is mission possible and it is going to take a lot of hard work to get there," said the prime minister.

But his demands were met with ridicule by some Conservative Eurosceptics, with backbencher Bernard Jenkin stunning MPs by saying: "Is that it?"

Former Tory cabinet minister John Redwood said Mr Cameron should be asking for "much more" and there was nothing in Mr Cameron's speech to suggest Britain would get "anything like the protection we need" from European laws.

"It's about more than borders and migration," he added, "it's about who governs"./Agencies