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| Europe Is Edgy as Cameron Seeks to Loosen Ties | Europe Is Edgy as Cameron Seeks to Loosen Ties |
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| BRUSSELS — The French are engaged in a lonely military adventure in Africa. The Germans are preoccupied with domestic elections rather than regional affairs. Unemployment in some countries is at historic highs and economies across Europe are still mired in recession. | BRUSSELS — The French are engaged in a lonely military adventure in Africa. The Germans are preoccupied with domestic elections rather than regional affairs. Unemployment in some countries is at historic highs and economies across Europe are still mired in recession. |
| Now Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has added to Europe’s malaise, vowing to reduce British entanglement with the European Union — or allow his people to vote in a referendum to leave the bloc altogether. | Now Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain has added to Europe’s malaise, vowing to reduce British entanglement with the European Union — or allow his people to vote in a referendum to leave the bloc altogether. |
| The pledge from the British prompted swift retorts from France and Germany, which said no member has the option of “cherry picking” whatever European rules it wants to enforce. But it reflected a growing sense of unease, not only in Britain but across the Continent, that while the acute phase of the financial crisis has passed, the challenge to Europe’s mission and even its membership has not. | The pledge from the British prompted swift retorts from France and Germany, which said no member has the option of “cherry picking” whatever European rules it wants to enforce. But it reflected a growing sense of unease, not only in Britain but across the Continent, that while the acute phase of the financial crisis has passed, the challenge to Europe’s mission and even its membership has not. |
| Even the United States has injected itself into the matter, with an unusually public insistence that Britain, a close ally, stay in the union, fearing that its departure would heighten centrifugal forces that would weaken Europe as a diplomatic, military and financial partner. | Even the United States has injected itself into the matter, with an unusually public insistence that Britain, a close ally, stay in the union, fearing that its departure would heighten centrifugal forces that would weaken Europe as a diplomatic, military and financial partner. |
| With the threat of a sudden breakup of the euro zone appearing to recede in recent months, Europe has seen a resurgence of narrow national interests that risks swamping always-elusive common goals. The bickering is undercutting hopes in some circles that the struggle to save the euro had laid the groundwork for “more Europe.” | With the threat of a sudden breakup of the euro zone appearing to recede in recent months, Europe has seen a resurgence of narrow national interests that risks swamping always-elusive common goals. The bickering is undercutting hopes in some circles that the struggle to save the euro had laid the groundwork for “more Europe.” |
| “As pressure from the financial markets recedes and a sense of urgency lifts, the appetite for serious reform is melting away like butter in the sun,” said Thomas Klau, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Now that markets no longer hold a knife under leaders’ throats, they are slipping back into their normal mode, which is to manage their own immediate reality.” | “As pressure from the financial markets recedes and a sense of urgency lifts, the appetite for serious reform is melting away like butter in the sun,” said Thomas Klau, head of the Paris office of the European Council on Foreign Relations. “Now that markets no longer hold a knife under leaders’ throats, they are slipping back into their normal mode, which is to manage their own immediate reality.” |
| For Mr. Cameron, with elections coming in 2015, that means heading off a challenge from the hard-right, anti-Europe United Kingdom Independence Party while shoring up support for his government, which recently admitted that its unpopular austerity program would have to be extended to 2018, analysts said. He is also anxious to avoid the sort of ruinous intraparty split over Europe that bedeviled the prime ministerships of two of his Conservative predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major. | For Mr. Cameron, with elections coming in 2015, that means heading off a challenge from the hard-right, anti-Europe United Kingdom Independence Party while shoring up support for his government, which recently admitted that its unpopular austerity program would have to be extended to 2018, analysts said. He is also anxious to avoid the sort of ruinous intraparty split over Europe that bedeviled the prime ministerships of two of his Conservative predecessors, Margaret Thatcher and John Major. |
| That comes against a backdrop of declining favorability ratings for the European Union among the British — only 45 percent last year, down from 51 percent in 2011, in polls conducted by the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project. | That comes against a backdrop of declining favorability ratings for the European Union among the British — only 45 percent last year, down from 51 percent in 2011, in polls conducted by the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project. |
| Mr. Cameron’s speech Wednesday in London calling for a referendum had been in the works for some time but, Mr. Klau noted, it was delivered at a moment when the European Union had begun to declare victory over doomsayers who predicted the common currency and even the whole union could crumble. This mood of calm, Mr. Klau said, has given leaders “the political space” to turn their eyes from Europe toward more pressing and, for politicians seeking re-election, far more important domestic concerns. | Mr. Cameron’s speech Wednesday in London calling for a referendum had been in the works for some time but, Mr. Klau noted, it was delivered at a moment when the European Union had begun to declare victory over doomsayers who predicted the common currency and even the whole union could crumble. This mood of calm, Mr. Klau said, has given leaders “the political space” to turn their eyes from Europe toward more pressing and, for politicians seeking re-election, far more important domestic concerns. |
| The decision by President François Hollande of France to send troops to Mali to halt an advance by rebels with ties to Islamist extremists reprises a long tradition of French interventions in its former African colonies — and has bolstered the Socialist president’s previously flagging popularity. | The decision by President François Hollande of France to send troops to Mali to halt an advance by rebels with ties to Islamist extremists reprises a long tradition of French interventions in its former African colonies — and has bolstered the Socialist president’s previously flagging popularity. |
| The French move has been supported by the European Union, whose member states share French fears about the spread of radicalism across the Mediterranean. But it has superseded the bloc’s own ambitions to become a serious player in global affairs and still left the French to fight mostly on their own. The union is sending some military trainers. | The French move has been supported by the European Union, whose member states share French fears about the spread of radicalism across the Mediterranean. But it has superseded the bloc’s own ambitions to become a serious player in global affairs and still left the French to fight mostly on their own. The union is sending some military trainers. |
| Europe’s economic troubles, meanwhile, are far from over, with much of the Continent expected to be in recession this year. Even Germany seems to be losing momentum — its economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the final months of last year. Elsewhere, unemployment is soaring to levels that could threaten grave social unrest, with more than a quarter of working-age people in Greece and Spain without jobs. | Europe’s economic troubles, meanwhile, are far from over, with much of the Continent expected to be in recession this year. Even Germany seems to be losing momentum — its economy contracted by 0.5 percent in the final months of last year. Elsewhere, unemployment is soaring to levels that could threaten grave social unrest, with more than a quarter of working-age people in Greece and Spain without jobs. |
| But the European Union, widely criticized as not doing enough to raise employment, has been struggling to put even its own economic house in order after leaders failed in November to agree on a long-term budget for the 27-nation bloc. Leaders will take another swipe at this divisive issue early next month. | But the European Union, widely criticized as not doing enough to raise employment, has been struggling to put even its own economic house in order after leaders failed in November to agree on a long-term budget for the 27-nation bloc. Leaders will take another swipe at this divisive issue early next month. |
| After being consumed for so long by efforts to salvage the euro zone, “leaders now think it is safe and are becoming perhaps too complacent,” said Charles Grant, director for the Center for European Reform, a London-based research unit. “The only time European leaders have agreed to take important steps is when there is a crisis. As soon as the crisis stops they relax.” | After being consumed for so long by efforts to salvage the euro zone, “leaders now think it is safe and are becoming perhaps too complacent,” said Charles Grant, director for the Center for European Reform, a London-based research unit. “The only time European leaders have agreed to take important steps is when there is a crisis. As soon as the crisis stops they relax.” |
| Germany, he said, has now backed away from tentative support for a change in the basic European Union treaties that could help the European Union forge common policies. | Germany, he said, has now backed away from tentative support for a change in the basic European Union treaties that could help the European Union forge common policies. |
| Already distracted by national elections next September, Germany could turn even more inward-looking as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to overcome her party’s defeat over the weekend in a down-to-the-wire state election in Lower Saxony. She remains the dominant figure in German and European affairs, but the surprise election setback has dented her aura of invincibility. | Already distracted by national elections next September, Germany could turn even more inward-looking as Chancellor Angela Merkel seeks to overcome her party’s defeat over the weekend in a down-to-the-wire state election in Lower Saxony. She remains the dominant figure in German and European affairs, but the surprise election setback has dented her aura of invincibility. |
| Other leaders, tightly focused on their own domestic concerns, are stalling on critical decisions about how far they want to go in engaging with the union. President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland, for example, said Wednesday that his country should delay a decision on adopting the euro until after elections in 2015. | Other leaders, tightly focused on their own domestic concerns, are stalling on critical decisions about how far they want to go in engaging with the union. President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland, for example, said Wednesday that his country should delay a decision on adopting the euro until after elections in 2015. |
| While the Polish economy, the biggest in central Europe, has been spared the tumult that has afflicted other nations, opinion polls show flagging interest in adopting the euro. Less than a third of Poles want to ditch the national currency, the zloty, according to recent surveys. Farther to the east in Latvia, which plans to join the euro zone next year, support for the common currency has slumped to under 15 percent in a sign of growing unease with a “European project” that most Latvians had eagerly embraced. | While the Polish economy, the biggest in central Europe, has been spared the tumult that has afflicted other nations, opinion polls show flagging interest in adopting the euro. Less than a third of Poles want to ditch the national currency, the zloty, according to recent surveys. Farther to the east in Latvia, which plans to join the euro zone next year, support for the common currency has slumped to under 15 percent in a sign of growing unease with a “European project” that most Latvians had eagerly embraced. |
| Domestic politics have regularly trumped broader European concerns throughout the six-decade history of the union and its predecessor organizations, to the dismay of those who want to see Europe live up to a commitment in the 1957 Treaty of Rome for an “ever closer union.” | Domestic politics have regularly trumped broader European concerns throughout the six-decade history of the union and its predecessor organizations, to the dismay of those who want to see Europe live up to a commitment in the 1957 Treaty of Rome for an “ever closer union.” |
| But Mr. Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum on European Union membership threatens to elevate national political calculations over common interests to an extent that has alarmed even countries that often share British concerns. | But Mr. Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum on European Union membership threatens to elevate national political calculations over common interests to an extent that has alarmed even countries that often share British concerns. |
Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London. | Alan Cowell contributed reporting from London. |
| This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: | This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: |
| Correction: January 28, 2013 | |
Because of an editing error, an | Because of an editing error, an article on Thursday about Europe’s unease with Britain’s pledges to disengage from the European Union referred imprecisely to the results of polls by the Pew Research Global Attitudes Project that measured views on the union. Favorability ratings for the union among the British — not support for Britain’s membership — declined to 45 percent of those polled last year from 51 percent in 2011. |