Cameron to address special EU Parl session on referendum

British Prime Minister David Cameron will be invited to address a special session of the European Parliament on his planned referendum on Britain’s EU membership, officials said on Thursday.

“I am delighted Cameron will be invited to a special session of the European Parliament,” Liberal Group leader Guy Verhofstadt said in a tweeted message after MEPs agreed to ask assembly head Martin Schulz to approach Cameron.

“The European Parliament is nothing for Cameron to be afraid of,” said Verhofstadt, who has pressed repeatedly for the prime minister to come to Brussels and explain his position.

“Let’s hope Cameron seizes this opportunity to outline transparently his demands for a renegotiation of UK’s membership,” he added. Schulz’s office confirmed that Schulz would approach Cameron but stressed that no formal invitation had yet been sent.

“The result (of the MEP meeting) is for President Schulz to call Cameron to sound out (the) possibilities,” a press officer said.

Cameron won re-election earlier this year promising voters a straight ‘in-out’ vote on Britain’s EU membership by 2017. He made a first case to EU leaders at a summit in June, setting off the negotiating process, with the issue to be taken up again at a December summit after.