Europe in no mood for major concessions

"No Give-aways to Britain" Warns Euro Summit Organiser

Mr Patijn, who has been masterminding next month's Amsterdam summit on Europe's future, has challenged the Government to agree a trade-off. The Prime Minister, Tony Blair, is expected to sign up for further EU integration but his Government has already stated that Britain cannot agree to remove its frontier checks in line with most other member states and intends to retain total control in particular over asylum and immigration policy.

The extent of concessions which the others will require from the UK is still unclear.

Mr Patijn told a news conference in Brussels: "I assume the net result will be that Britain will retain a certain level of control over its borders as part of a wider package." And he insisted: "There are no unilateral give aways."

Thirteen EU countries are in the process of dismantling all frontier controls as part of the European goal of creating a single market with free movement for goods, services and people throughout the EU.

But Britain has always insisted that it cannot give up its frontier checks because the country's "internal" borders with the rest of Europe are also its "external" borders with the rest of the world.

Successive governments have insisted the country must be protected against cross border crime, drug smuggling and illegal immigration, although the Labour is now about to ease certain restrictions on immigration.

The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has made clear at a series of Euro meetings that concerns about monitoring third country nationals make border controls essential. Mr Patijn, clearly acknowledging that Britain will keep some level of frontier checks under a new European treaty, commented: "The question is how we can accommodate Britain while achieving our aim of free movement."