Brussels in a fog

In the 1930s, the Daily Mirror published a headline, "Fog in (English) Channel: Continent cut off". Ironically, when British Prime Minister David Cameron finally began his long-awaited speech about his country's relationship with the European Union last week, Brussels was shrouded in fog.

Cameron's speech again displayed the old British ambivalence towards Europe. The prime minister wanted a quick political fix to quiet his right-wing rebels and to boost his flagging popularity, but he delivered it at the expense of political and economic damage to Europe, to Britain and probably to himself.

He promised that if he were re-elected at the next elections due by 2015, he would renegotiate the country's membership of the European Union, and put the resulting deal to a straight "in or out" referendum allowing the British people to choose. Any decision, therefore, is five or more years away.

By fixing his promise to an election which he may or may not win, Cameron gained time, but at the expense of uncertainty for everyone.

An inevitable ugly new word has been coined, "Brixit", meaning British exit, to refer to whether or when and under what circumstances Britain will leave the EU. Fresh uncertainty will be piled on an already fragile EU.

If the EU were an aircraft, it would be taken out of service for urgent overhaul. Some of Cameron's complaints made sense, and his general tone was more reasonable and positive than the soundbites suggested. As he said, "the gap between the EU and its citizens has grown dramatically". Many opinion polls across Europe make his point.

"People are increasingly frustrated that decisions taken further and further away from them mean their living standards are slashed through enforced austerity or their taxes are used to bail out governments on the other side of the continent," Cameron said.