Some people might consider the op-ed in Germany’s Spiegel less frank and more brutal.
Either the commentary from a rabidly pro-EU newspaper on the continent offers a reality check for the UK’s doggedly pro-EU Prime Minister, and the deluded Conservative rump which continues to kid itself and others that they can secure the return of a handful of largely meaningless powers to the UK and launch complete restructuring of the European Union into the bargain:
His party still hasn’t forgiven him for failing to clinch an absolute majority in the last election. They see the coalition with the Liberal Democrats as a humiliation. The EU is their way of exacting revenge on Cameron for that. It’s part of the reason why Cameron sees Europe mainly as a party political problem.
By trying to satisfy his radical backbenchers with the referendum pledge, he’s launched into a game he can’t win. The EU’s other 26 governments won’t let him opt out of parts of the existing accords because that would prompt others to demand concessions of their own. The Europe-haters in Cameron’s party won’t be satisfied because the leeway they want from Brussels isn’t politically achievable.
Exclusively among the constituents of the EU only Cameron, his europlastic lobby fodder amd the majority of the British media believe in his fantasy renegotiation narrative. The tragedy is they have come together and taken advantage of the wishful thinking of a largely uninformed public to con them into believing it is real and achievable and the only option that results in ‘less Europe’ and maintains access to the single market. As Spiegel points out somewhat unhelpfully for the dreamers:
The important questions still haven’t been answered. What exactly does Britain expect of Europe? What laws and regulations does Cameron want to change? What parts of the treaty does he want to opt out of? And above all: How in heaven’s name does Cameron propose to persuade the German chancellor, the French president and all the other European leaders that he should get to pick the raisins from the cake while everyone else gets the crumbs?
The truth is Cameron has no idea. His speech was a gambit to stop the leak of Conservative members to UKIP and arrest the groundswell of anti-EU sentiment among a frustrated public.
Nothing that Cameron can achieve will negate the issues that have been turning an increasing number of people against EU membership. Power will remain in Brussels, laws and regulations will still be handed down for the British to implement, billions of pounds will be sent elsewhere within the EU at the expense of the vulnerable in this country, unfettered migration of low skilled, low earning EU nationals will continue, British economic interests and trade deals will continue to be compromised and diluted to suit the ‘common’ interests of other EU states. In short, the UK will not belong to the British.
Autonomous Mind 
I get the impression though AM from commenters in the DM that most have seen through Cameron. Ok, so we are talking commenters here but I hope that this is a good cross section of what the population as a whole thinks. Melanie Phillips has done a good dissection of Cameron the con in the DM presumably so will Hitchens on Sunday. On the other side of the coin is the pro-EU Max Hastings who slavishly seems to believe what Cameron the con said. Lets hope that more and more people will see through Cameron the con and realise that what he said was no better than his “cast iron guarantee”
Foreign newspapers are not always easy dor Britons to identify politically.
Let it be clear, Spiegel is of the LEFT and, despite readable journalism, untrustworthy.
“His party still hasn’t forgiven him for failing to clinch an absolute majority in the last election. They see the coalition with the Liberal Democrats as a humiliation. The EU is their way of exacting revenge on Cameron for that.”
It’s one of those analyses which could be accurate but which is well wide of the mark.
The Conservative Party has always had a large eurosceptic wing, which it’s sought to placate. Cameron with his hyped eusosceptic credentials was a part of placating it, pledging to leave the EPP and then the nonsense over the Lisbon Treaty, the Referendum Lock and so on, but note his words and treatment of BOO etc..
Their position has always been europhile, but having to put up a bit of a show sometimes.
The EU is coming to the point where it’s harder to put off the issue off with a few soundbites before Euro elections, because of a host of reasons, but largely the mess the Euro is in.
There’s an undercurrent of dissatisfaction for muffing the last election, but Tories are fed up with Cameron for a lot of other reasons; he appeared to embrace the Lib Dems with relish, gay marriage, immigration, the EU, and the general view that he’s heading continuity Nu Labour.
The EU isn’t an issue which has been dreamed up to punish Cameron. Cameron is one of the latest Tory players trying to keep the lid on the problem. Circumstances external to the UK have raised the pressure.
A part of the Tories’ problem is that their supporters decreasingly see any penalty for letting the team with red jumpers take over from the team in blue jumpers.