PM phone call with Prime Minister Tusk of Poland
David Cameron called the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, to discuss co-operation on a range of bilateral and EU issues.
Following the phone call, a Downing Street spokesperson said:
On shale gas, they welcomed the progress made to head off EU legislative proposals and agreed that there should be further co-operation to promote the benefits of shale gas across Europe and to ensure that the European Commission does not place burdens on the industry that prevent countries from realising the sector’s full potential.
On EU free movement, the Prime Minister made clear his longstanding view, reiterated in recent days, that the lack of transitional controls for new EU member states in 2004 was the wrong approach and had put pressure on local communities; and that we need to address the impact on countries’ benefits systems, including for example paying child benefit to families living abroad. The Prime Minister emphasised that this was a pan-EU issue relevant to all Member States and people should engage with the substance of the Prime Minister’s proposals. Moving forward, they agreed to hold further bilateral discussions on how the UK and Poland can work together to better manage the impact of intra-EU migration on social security systems.