Germany Made PM Ditch Migrant Brake

Germany had a secret veto over David Cameron's EU renegotiations and used it to kill plans for an emergency brake on migrants, according to Iain Duncan Smith.

The former Work and Pensions Secretary said the Germans had blocked the idea of halting EU immigration when figures hit a certain level, just hours before Mr Cameron was due to unveil it in a speech.

He said that the Germans had "de facto veto over everything" during the discussions for a better deal for the UK within the EU.

And the ex-Cabinet minister claimed there was even a spare chair for Berlin in the room where EU reform was being discussed called "the German chair".
n an interview with The Sun, Brexit campaigner Mr Duncan Smith said the emergency brake measure had been contained in a key speech to be given by the Prime Minister on 27 November.

He said the Germans had threatened to attack the speech until the measure was withheld and the section was removed with promises the Government would "come back to it".

Mr Duncan Smith, whose high-profile resignation over disability cuts in March exposed a deep EU rift in the Conservative party, said: "It's like they were sitting in a room, even when they were not there.

"There was a spare chair for them - called the German chair. They have had a de facto veto over everything,

"I know that right up until the midnight hour, there was a strong line in there about restricting the flow of migrants from the European Union - an emergency brake on overall migration.
"That was dropped, literally the night before. And it was dropped because the Germans said if that is in the speech, we will have to attack it."

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Mr Duncan Smith, who is giving a speech backing leaving the EU later on Tuesday, added: "There is no question in my mind that keeping the Germans on side was the only thing that really mattered.

"We wanted to use the Germans to work the others in the room. They had the ultimate power over it."

At the time, Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond denied Mr Cameron "backed off" under pressure from German chancellor Angela Merkel.
The final renegotiation deal saw an "emergency brake" applied to withholding benefits from EU immigrants.

The mechanism allows the UK to curb payments to migrants for seven years if a country proves local services are under strain. European leaders have agreed the UK has.

A Number 10 source told The Sun: "The Prime Minister made clear at the time that the Government had looked at an emergency brake but he decided it was not the most effective way forward.

"That is why he decided to impose restrictions on benefits instead to end the something for nothing culture."

Source: AFP