Cameron to hold talks on top EU role

British prime minister David Cameron will hold talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel and other European counterparts over the coming days in an effort to prevent Jean-Claude Juncker from taking the European Commission presidency.

David Cameron is travelling to Sweden today for talks on the future of Europe, and Foreign Secretary William Hague insisted there were other “talented candidates” for the presidency.

Former prime minister of Luxembourg Mr Juncker is regarded in London as an arch-federalist and opponent of reform. Mr Hague indicated that failing to get the “right people” in the EU’s top jobs would make it harder to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with Brussels ahead of the in/out referendum promised by the Tories by the end of 2017.

Mr Hague acknowledged the UK could not veto Mr Juncker taking on the role, but said the British government was attaching “great importance” to making sure that reformers took senior posts in Europe.

He told BBC1’s Andrew Marr Show: “It’s very important in our view that a range of candidates are looked at. This is only one of the top jobs being decided now in the European Union, there are four or five such jobs and it’s very important there is a political balance, there’s a geographic balance, it’s important there are women in there in the top jobs.”

He added: “The important thing, and we haven’t decided on the personalities of this yet, but the important thing is that the European Union is focused on reform, it’s focused on change, it’s not going to deliver what the people of any European country need if it carries on with just business as usual.

Mr Cameron is travelling to Sweden for talks with the country’s prime minister Fredrik Reinfeldt, Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte and Mrs Merkel on reforms in Europe, with the candidates for the commission and its presidency also expected to be on the agenda.

Asked if the in/out referendum would be brought forward, Mr Hague told Murnaghan on Sky News: “We are committed to our referendum in 2017 but we will of course continue working over the coming days and weeks on getting the right outcome of these discussions on Europe so we can achieve reform in Europe and then have the referendum.”