LONDON - The eurozone debt crisis is emboldening some British Conservatives to demand Prime Minister David Cameron scale back or cut ties with Europe, threatening to reopen a battle that nearly tore the party apart in the 1990s.

Conservative right-wingers are increasingly frustrated with the compromises they feel party leader Cameron is being forced to make on Europe and other leading issues to keep the support of the pro-European Liberal Democrats, the minority partner in Britain's 16-month-old coalition government.

They are starting to flex their muscles over Europe, seeing the eurozone debt crisis as an opportunity to press their demands for Britain to repatriate powers from Brussels or even to withdraw from the 27-nation bloc.

Their growing assertiveness could force Cameron to take a tougher stance in negotiations with European partners, feed parliamentary rebellions and put extra strain on the Conservatives' coalition with the center-left Lib Dems.

Last week saw the emergence of a new Eurosceptic group in parliament and its first meeting was attended by 120 Conservative legislators. Its goal is to redefine Britain's ties with the European Union, a relationship that has been uneasy ever since Britain joined the then "common market" in 1973.

"We think post the eurozone crisis, particularly if the eurozone members enter a new treaty together, that will require Britain to think very carefully about where it sits within the EU," Conservative MP George Eustice, a founder of the new group, told Reuters in an interview.

Eustice said he believed that Britain should be able to take back powers from Brussels in areas such as employment and social policy and justice and home affairs.

The EU may need a new treaty if the eurozone opts for deeper fiscal integration in response to the eurozone crisis and Eustice said that could be the moment for Britain to press for a renegotiation of the basis of its EU membership.

He advocates a "pick and mix" Europe in which all members sign up to some core functions but can opt in or out of others.

Eustice said no one wanted a return to the fights over Europe of the 1990s. The aim of the group, which will be open to MPs of other parties, is to suggest ideas.

But he added: "If, obviously, in two or three years' time, they have ducked all the challenges. People may up the ante and put pressure on them, but it's not a time for that now."

Eustice said he did not believe that Britain should pull out of the European Union altogether, seeing economic benefits in Britain being part of the EU's vast single market.

But some other Conservative members of parliament, such as Douglas Carswell, say Britain should leave and are demanding a referendum on whether Britain should stay in or quit the EU.

"You can't trust the political elite to decide our relations with Europe. There has to be a referendum and there will be eventually," Carswell told Reuters.

Growing Conservative dissent could translate into more parliamentary rebellions against coalition legislation.

Conservative MP Mark Pritchard warned coalition leaders in a column in The Daily Telegraph newspaper on Monday that unquestioning political support from Conservative lawmakers on EU issues could no longer be taken for granted.

Cameron has rejected calls for a referendum on whether Britain should leave the EU but, in a gesture to Eurosceptics, said Britain could demand the return of some powers from Brussels as the price for agreeing to a new EU treaty.

Reuters

(China Daily 09/21/2011 page11)