Tusk: Cameron is pressing for fast EU deal

Donald Tusk said in an interview with British daily The Guardian said that David Cameron is pressing 27 other European heads of government to accept his terms for deciding Britain’s future in the EU at a Brussels summit in two weeks’ time. The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, will chair the crucial summit on December 17. The Guardian said Tusk agreed personally with Cameron on the drive to conclude UK-EU negotiations before Christmas and would assist the prime minister. However, he also voiced reservations about the highly fraught negotiations as central and complex issues in the British list of demands remain unresolved. “In fact, his personal opinion and mine were, and are, that December is better than February,” Tusk told The Guardian, referring to the next two EU summits. “If he is ready to take this risk, I will be helpful. But then it would be his risk… If Cameron is sure December is better for him as the organizer of this referendum, I will help and I am ready to convince our officials," Tusk added. It is up to the European Council president whether he puts a final UK ultimatum on the agenda for the pre-Christmas EU summit in Brussels on 17/18 December.