PM rejects a two-tier EU

David Cameron will renew hostilities with his European partners this week as he attempts to head off moves that critics fear could relegate the UK into the "second-tier" of EU member states.

EU leaders will meet at the European Council in Brussels with the express aim of adopting a "specific and time-bound road map" for strengthening economic and monetary union (EMU). A paper from European Council President Herman Van Rompuy, calling for "arrangements of a contractual nature" between countries using the euro – and the possibility of a eurozone budget – marks an acceleration towards a two-tier Europe, with members of the single currency at its core.

But a number of EU states outside the eurozone – including the UK – have cautioned that the blueprint could leave them as "second-class" members, excluded from key decisions.

The Foreign Office minister, Baroness Warsi, made it clear that the Prime Minister would not allow non-euro nations to be left out of decisions that affect the whole of the EU.