Hollande says "non" to David Cameron's repatriation of powers

The French president, François Hollande, has told David Cameron that he is obsessed with his own problems and that he will veto any attempts to change EU treaties that Cameron asks for for his mythical renegotiation of our relationship with the EU.

David Cameron promised a whole raft of repatriations of power from Brussels if he wins the next election, including immigration, employment law and criminal justice. Repeated public statements by French, German and Polish politicians that they will veto any of these attempts has downgraded his renegotiation demands to an opt out from the legally binding requirement to support ever closer union and even that has been shot down in flames.

From day one the promise to renegotiate and repatriate powers from the EU has been a deception. Changing anything in an EU treaty requires the unanimous agreement of all member states of the EU. David Cameron knows this, every MP knows this, every civil servant knows this and all the media know this. It doesn't matter how many times someone says that the Tories will repatriate powers from the EU, it just isn't possible - power flows one way to the EU, it can't come back.