French minister: 'EU won't bend rules for Tories'

A renegotiation of EU institutions to suit the Conservatives if they win power is "out of the question" and London risks isolation if it makes such demands, France's minister for Europe said today.

The Conservatives have given up on the idea of putting the European Union's Lisbon Treaty to a referendum, but pledged to seek the return of some powers from Brussels to London.

"It is out of the question to reopen negotiations on the treaty," said Pierre Lellouche, France's secretary of state for European Affairs, on the sidelines of a news conference by President Nicolas Sarkozy.

"That would require agreement from the 26 other EU members and I don't think for a single minute that will be possible. It was so hard and took so long (to agree on Lisbon) that these institutions are here to stay, probably for decades," he said.

The Lisbon Treaty, which aims to streamline Europe's creaky institutions and make the bloc more efficient, can come into force now that Czech President Vaclav Klaus, a eurosceptic, has signed it after weeks of delay.

Conservative leader David Cameron yesterday announced he had abandoned plans to put the treaty to a British referendum, but said he would try to obtain the return of Britain's opt-out in some areas.

Asked about Cameron's stance during the press conference, Sarkozy said it was "extremely positive" that he had given up on a referendum and pointed out that the existing treaty already contained certain opt-out clauses that applied to Britain.

"(The treaty) will allow Europe to turn the page on years of institutional debate that alienated us from the European people, wasted a lot of time and caused misunderstandings," he said.

Lellouche, who described himself as France's most Anglophile minister, said that Cameron's speech had made him "sad".

"My message is simply to say 'Please, have mercy! Spare us further institutional debates.' And I say it with great friendship towards the British people and towards Britain, which we Europeans need," he said.

"The economic crisis has shown that we need unity," he said.

Lellouche said that by quitting the mainstream centre-right alliance of legislators in the European Parliament in favour of a more radical, eurosceptic group, the Conservatives had already diminished their own clout within the bloc.

"The isolation of their group means that their influence is infinitely less today than it was in the past, and as a friend of Britain, I say: 'Please do not isolate yourselves'," he said.

Lellouche said he did not wish to create a row with the historically eurosceptic Conservatives but rather to tell them that Britain's EU partners wanted a constructive dialogue.

"If the British people choose the Conservatives, we will have to work with them and for my part, I am ready for it."

"Europe is made of daily compromises because we all need one another. Of course it would be easier to go it alone. But in today's globalised world, whether you're a big or a small country, the risk of marginalisation weighs on all of us."