UK Prime Minister David Cameron set a deadline to hold an in-out referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Union by the end of 2017, in his much-anticipated speech on relations with Europe.
He pledged to negotiate a revision of Britain’s membership terms within two and a half years of the next general election in 2015 and put it to a public vote.
L’Echo, Brussels – Cartoon. See more.
From now on, „MPs are more equal than other elected officials,“ states Romanian daily Adevărul. On January 22, Romanian senators and deputies approved a bill allowing them to ignore rulings concerning them issued by the country’s anti-corruption watchdog, the National Integrity Agency. The new law will apply even if the Agency rules that an MP’s legislative mandate is incompatible with another mandate or that a situation in which they find themselves causes a conflict of interest. The MPs will be able to keep their seats until a court rules on their case.
This bill puts deputies and senators in a privileged position relative to all other elected officials, the paper notes. The votes in favour came entirely from the ranks of the ruling coalition, the USL (Social-Liberal Union). For Adevărul –
That elected officials are more equal than the rest of us, the others, is not serious. What is serious is that the discussions, the arguments and the fears express but one thing: the Romanian judiciary is not independent. It seems to be following orders, far from Europe’s watchful eye. Its independence is a convention. Everybody knows that in court, people are not equal. The poor, the wretched and the disadvantaged have a greater chance of ending up in prison. […] Conversely, those privileged by fate enjoy a different regime; different treatment. They wield another kind of power.
“There is nothing inevitable about Britain’s departure from the EU. Yet history could well record that David Cameron has set the nation on this course”, [writes *Financial Times* columnist Philip Stephens](http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a0253242-6545-11e2-a3db-00144feab49a.html#axzz2Ib4v6LEZ) after the British PM spoke in London on January 23.
“Britain will get EU referendum”, headlines the *Daily Express* claiming a front page victory for its campaign to hold the vote. [Columnist Patrick O'Flynn observes](http://www.express.co.uk/ourcomments/view/372653) Cameron announced his intention to lead a pro-European vote, before knowing what concessions he can negotiate. He continues –
This decision to put EU membership to the people is “a high risk but ballsy call”, [writes *The Sun’s* political editor](http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/politics/4758144/In-or-Out-its-YOUR-shout.html), Tom Newton Dunn, comparing the move to putting “a loaded gun to EU leaders' heads and saying: give Britain back what it wants or we may walk.” Describing the PM’s forthcoming negotiations as “a poker game with Brussels of intense bluff, and for the highest stakes” he adds that –
[For the BBC’s political correspondent](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21148282), Iain Watson, the in-out referendum decision will delight the many Eurosceptics in Cameron’s party and unite the Conservatives ahead of the 2015 election, but the renegotiation process may ultimately trigger future splits.
[*The Economist’s* “*Blighty*” blog notes](http://www.economist.com/blogs/blighty/2013/01/britains-drift-europe) that any renegotiation of the UK’s membership terms will be “minor and will carry a hefty diplomatic price tag.”
James Kirkup, deputy political editor at [*The Daily Telegraph*, says](http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/jameskirkup/100199618/david-cameron-wants-to-save-the-eu-from-itself-will-it-save-him-from-his-party/) Cameron’s speech pushed the focus of the European project back on an economic and market-based principle, which may be welcomed by the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland. However, others “will not react well to what will strike them as an attempt at blackmail by a leader too politically weak to resist his own party.” He adds –
Tygodnik Powszechny , Cracow – Modern and productive, the Tychy factory was once Fiat’s flagship site, but in the face of the debt crisis, the Italian automaker has decided to bring production of the popular Panda back to Naples. For the Polish workforce, this means a wave of redundancies in late January, and disillusionment is the order of the day. See more.
Trouw, Amsterdam – Cartoon. See more.
NRC Handelsblad, Amsterdam – Less than six weeks after its launch — and a multitude of technical problems later — the high-speed Fyra train between Amsterdam and Brussels has been taken off the tracks. A flop that brings into question the way international supply contracts are handed out. See more.
Frankfurter Rundschau, Frankfurt – The people of Sedan, in northern France, have offered futile resistance to the Germans in three wars, from Bismarck to Hitler. Now, a journalist searching for the French-German reconciliation celebrated in the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty, finds a community broken by poverty, that has nothing to keep alive but the ghosts of the past. See more.
The National Union of Hungarian Students (HÖOK) has signed an agreement with the government on student access to university scholarships. However, another major student representative body in the country, the Network of Students (HH), believes that the concessions made by the government are “insufficient”.
HH is demanding that the number of subsidised places in third-level education be restored to its 2011 level, and an end to contracts in which state funded students are obliged to commit to staying in Hungary when they graduate.
In the wake of the attack by an Islamist group on the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria, in which several Norwegians were among the hostages, Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide has told the newspaper that his country “could make a military contribution [to the intervention] in Mali”.