East European nations have warned that their support for the draft EU renegotiation document aimed at keeping Britain in Europe is not guaranteed, saying they want to examine the proposals in detail but that some measures may not be acceptable.

“I do not think we will accept the proposal in this form, but it is a decision that only the prime minister can make,” a Hungarian official said on Wednesday in Budapest. “Right now we haven’t even started negotiations. We have some concerns and we will raise them and see how others respond.”

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hungary was “very satisfied with the first three baskets [of the negotiations] – sovereignty, economic governance and competitiveness – but has concerns about the fourth, and have advocated against the proposals on child benefits.”

The country would be reluctant to use its veto but remained worried about the possible impact on the estimated 200,000 Hungarians in Britain, he said. “It is a very big concern that on the one hand there is implementation of freedom laws, and steps against discrimination in economic governance, but on the other a step back in the right to free movement. This is very controversial for us.”



The European council president Donald Tusk’s plan, which must be accepted by all 28 EU member states, seeks to address Britain’s demand for reforms to stem immigration and boost British sovereignty. It includes welfare reforms that are controversial in several east European countries, including Poland, which have sizeable populations of migrant workers in the UK.

The Polish foreign minister, Witold Waszczykowski, told a press conference with his Hungarian counterpart on Wednesday that both countries aimed to present a joint statement on the UK reform package in Budapest on Monday.

While sentiment towards the proposal was generally positive, Waszczykowski said, and “we share the UK’s push to respect the will of sovereign countries more, we must not see any solutions that discriminate against some groups of people”. Up to 1.3 million Poles are thought to live in Britain.

A Bulgarian government official who also asked not to be named said the country was “not satisfied” with the plan to curb welfare payments as it stood. “We would not want to accept anything that resembles a restriction on freedom of movement or discrimination against our workers,” he said. “We will want to see some movement during negotiations.”

György Schöpflin, a Hungarian MEP from the ruling Fidesz party, told the European parliament that “of the four freedoms, the free movement of labour is a key issue for central Europe. Any alteration to this calls into question the legitimacy of the other three freedoms, including Britain’s favourite, the free movement of capital.”

Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, said Warsaw – a vocal opponent of any measures that might discriminate against its citizens working in Britain – broadly approved of measures to strengthen sovereignty and bolster EU members’ ability to stop legislation, but was looking carefully at the proposal to suspend in-work benefits for migrant workers.

“This is a preliminary deal; let us see how the negotiations unfold,” Duda told the TVP Info news channel. “But free movement of workers and services is a fundamental value of the EU. There is a clause saying that in the case of a sudden influx of wage migrants, some benefits could be curbed. We will see what the interpretation [of the clause] is.”

In Bucharest, Dan Stoenescu, the Romanian minister-delegate for Romanians abroad – there are an estimated 220,000 Romanians and Bulgarians in the UK – said some of London’s requests “need to be addressed with the maximum attention. Freedom of movement is very important for us. I believe that we should work harder together to find a solution to solving this.”

A senior Romanian government source, who also insisted on anonymity, added: “We are analysing this proposal. Changes like this have been considered a red line for us until now so we are debating what to do and how to react.” He said Romania would “not want to be the one blocking a compromise which would lead to Britain leaving the EU. But we have to analyse whether it passes our red line.”

Some commentators argued that eastern Europe should swallow welfare cuts for a greater good. “In the case of a Brexit, the EU would be weakened, economically but also politically towards Russia … and more focused on the euro, which would be of detriment to countries (such as Poland) that have not adopted the single currency,” Tomasz Bielecki argued in the liberal Polish daily Gazeta Wyborcza.

“For that reason, the government … needs to be willing to compromise on the question of migrant workers. It is better to forego certain benefits than face Brexit.”

