Eurogroup chair wants more say for euro 'outs' in decision-making
THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Eurogroup chair Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Monday that more should be done to involve member states outside the EU's currency union in decisions that affected them in order to give "Britain and the other outs" more comfort.
Dijsselbloem is also Dutch finance minister. The Dutch assume the rotating European Union presidency in January.
"I think we should have an open discussion about how we can give Britain and other (euro) outs comfort if necessary," he said, adding that the design of the EU's banking union had been modified to reflect British needs.
Dijsselbloem said he sympathised with British criticism of the EU's treaty commitment to "ever closer union". Scrapping the phrase is a key demand of British Prime Minister David Cameron, who hopes to secure a "yes" vote in a referendum on renegotiated membership terms.
Speaking to the Foreign Press Association in The Hague, Dijsselbloem said he would do "everything I can to enable a positive outcome" to the referendum.
(Reporting By Thomas Escritt and Anthony Deutsch; Editing by Toby Chopra)
