[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] French President Francois Hollande...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist...
said on Friday he would do what is necessary to keep Britannia in the European Union
...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
-- on condition that "Europe can still move forward".
"I'll do what is needed to keep the United Kingdom in Europe, but on condition that Europe can still move forward," Hollande told French radio as a key Brussels summit was set to go on late into the evening.
But with Prime Minister
David Cameron... has stated that he is
certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite,which means he's not. Since he is
not deeply ideologicalhe lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as
certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger,but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...
seeking a package of reforms ahead of a referendum on British membership of the bloc, Hollande said Britannia could not have "special rules" for the City of London, its powerful financial sector.
One of Cameron's aims in the negotiations is to ensure that the City of London is not bound by rules governing the euro single currency area.
"We can take into action what the City represents for Europe... but there cannot be special rules for the City," Hollande told La Belle France Inter radio.
Cameron has said that unless he gets a satisfactory deal, he will not campaign for Britannia to stay in the 28-nation European Union in a referendum that he is expected to hold as early as June.
Hollande said the other EU nations "must not give in to blackmail" but he said he genuinely believed Britannia was seeking a deal that would allow it to remain part of the bloc.
"This is Britannia, through the voice of David Cameron, saying 'help me to stay in Europe'," he said.
But Hollande added: "If the British people want to leave, I will regret it for the sake of Europe, for Britannia and for La Belle France, but I will accept it."