LONDON — Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain, who postponed a much-awaited address on his country’s future relations with Europe because of the Algeria hostage crisis, will deliver the speech in London on Wednesday, his office said Monday.
Mr. Cameron had planned to deliver the speech in the Netherlands on Friday but postponed it as the fate of British captives in Algeria seemed ever more dire. In a statement on Sunday, Mr. Cameron said three Britons had been confirmed killed, three were feared dead and a person usually resident in Britain had died.
Mr. Cameron’s initial choice of Amsterdam as the venue reflected a long tradition of using European cities as the platform for British pronouncements on Europe.
“We were planning to give it in Amsterdam. Unfortunately, that didn’t prove possible and Wednesday morning in London fits better with the prime minister’s schedule,” said a spokesman for Mr. Cameron, speaking in return for anonymity under departmental protocols.
“There is a debate going on across the E.U. There is also an active debate going on here in the U.K. The prime minister’s speech will be reflecting both those aspects,” the spokesman said.
On Friday, after Mr. Cameron postponed the speech, his office released excerpts suggesting that he had planned to deliver an explicit warning that Britain might leave the European Union unless the bloc changed the way it is run.
Mr. Cameron planned to say that there was “a gap between the E.U. and its citizens which has grown dramatically in recent years and which represents a lack of democratic accountability and consent that is — yes — felt particularly acutely in Britain.”
“If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift toward the exit,” Mr. Cameron planned to say.
“I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success, and I want a relationship between Britain and the E.U. that keeps us in it.”
Mr. Cameron’s views have drawn unusual public comment from American officials.
Last week, a White House spokesman quoted President Obama as telling Mr. Cameron in a telephone call that “the United States values a strong U.K. in a strong European Union, which makes critical contributions to peace, prosperity and security in Europe and around the world.”
That theme resurfaced Sunday when the American ambassador in London, Louis B. Susman, told Sky News that “we cannot imagine a strong E.U. without a vibrant partner in the U.K.”
“That is what we hope will come about, but it is up to the British people to decide what they want,” Mr. Susman said, according to the Press Association news agency.
Mr. Cameron is under pressure from members of his own Conservative Party to promise a referendum on Europe and he has signaled his readiness to hold one, although the precise question to be asked has not been made clear.
Liam Fox, a former defense secretary who is regarded as leading euroskeptic, said that he had been briefed on the content of the address and “if that is the speech that is finally delivered, a great many of us will think that it’s a speech that we’ve been waiting a long time for any prime minister to deliver.”
Foreign Secretary William Hague said Sunday there was a strong case for seeking “fresh consent” about the relationship between the European Union and Britain, which held a referendum approving membership in 1975.
“We want to succeed in the European Union — we want an outward-looking E.U. to succeed in the world, and for the United Kingdom to succeed in that,” he said.
“But we have to recognize that the European Union has changed a lot since the referendum of 1975, and that there have been not only great achievements to the E.U.’s name but some things that have gone badly wrong, such as the euro,” Mr. Hague said, referring to the protracted crisis over the bloc’s single currency. Britain does not participate in the single currency.
Cameron Reschedules Europe Speech for Wednesday
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Cameron Reschedules Europe Speech for Wednesday
