PM Heads To Brussels For Euro Crisis Summit

David Cameron heads to Brussels later to attend the eurozone debt crisis summit at which France and Germany are expected to push for sweeping financial changes in Europe.

The Prime Minister is facing pressure from senior Conservatives to call a referendum over Europe if a treaty change is proposed at the summit.

London mayor Boris Johnson said: "If Britain was asked to sign up to such a thing within the 27 (EU members), it would be right for us either to veto it... If we felt unable to veto it, then certainly it should be put to a referendum."

Cabinet member Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland Secretary, also threw weight behind the call for a referendum saying it would be an "inevitable" result of proposals for closer fiscal union in the eurozone.

Mr Cameron had said he would veto plans for a new EU treaty unless European leaders agree to a list of British demands.

A heated Prime Minister's Questions session in Westminster was dominated by the crisis, with Labour leader Ed Miliband accusing Mr Cameron of going soft on Europe, saying one thing to placate his eurosceptic MPs and another to European leaders.

The Prime Minister insisted he wanted "more power and control" for the UK saying: "The more that countries in the eurozone ask for, the more we will ask for in return.

"But we will judge that on the basis of what matters most for Britain."

He said that if eurozone countries want to use the "institutions of Europe" to rescue the single currency, they will have to back a number of "British safeguards" in return.

"Now, the most important British interest right now is to sort out the problem in the eurozone that is having the chilling effect on our economy that I have spoken about," he said.

"That obviously means eurozone countries doing more together and if they choose to use the European Treaty to do that, then obviously there will be British safeguards and British interests that I will want to insist on.

"And I won't sign a treaty that doesn't have those safeguards in it, around things like, of course, the importance of the single market and financial services.

"Now, if they choose to go ahead with a separate treaty, then clearly that is not a treaty that Britain would be signing or would be amending but, of course, if they want to use the European institutions, then we will be insisting on the safeguards and the protections that Britain needs.

"Britain is a member of the European Union, we benefit from our membership of the European Union. Key to that is the single market.

"We want the single currency crisis solved but we will protect and defend British interests at the same time."

However, Europe may not need a brand new treaty to put tighter fiscal rules into action, according to the President of the European Council.

After considering suggestions made by the French and German leaders, Mr van Rompuy said in a report that the changes could be achieved through minor adjustments to the current EU treaty, making the process much quicker than producing a new agreement which would need to be ratified by parliaments in all 27 member states.

The main aim would be to reinforce rules for eurozone states to keep their deficit and debt below a set proportion of their gross domestic product (GDP) - 3% of output for the yearly deficit and 60% for overall debt.

The report is due to be discussed at the EU summit on December 8 and 9, which Mr van Rompuy will chair.

MEP and French socialist Pervenche Beres, speaking on Sky News' Euro Crisis debate, agreed: "You cannot solve this crisis with a treaty change," she said.

"What everybody needs is to say that the European Central Bank (ECB) will intervene."

And Louka Katselli, former Greek minister for labour added: "We need a Europe that is growing rather than falling into a deeper recession and we need the ECB to intervene."

Other politicians told Sky's political editor Adam Boulton that the crisis in the eurozone could leave a gap which extremists may fill.

Martin Callanan, MEP and head of the Conservative group, said: "We should finally give up trying and accept the euro should be a lot smaller than it is.

"It will not be long before extremist parties in these countries start to say there is an alternative to this.

"It is unsustainable from a democratic point of view."

UKIP leader Nigel Farage added his support to that view, and said many governments had been replaced by "unelected" leaders and cabinets.

"Nobody in these countries is having the courage to stand up for democracy...and I think we are going to see some very radical political changes over the coming decades."

Meanwhile, in a joint letter to Mr van Rompuy, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel set out details of their plans for tighter fiscal discipline in the eurozone.

This would include automatic sanctions for countries which allow their deficit to rise beyond 3% of GDP and a set of increasingly strict punishments for governments which flout spending rules.