European leaders tuck into dinner after signing a deal to keep the UK in the EU, but are they celebrating too soon?

IT WAS supposed to be breakfast but the starters weren’t served until dinner time. Nevertheless, this very late meal may go down in European history.

28/08/2008 NEWS: The Traditional english breakfast. Eggs, bacon, toast, mushrooms, hash brown, baked beans, tomato and sausag...

IT WAS meant to be a full English breakfast and then, as it neared noon, it morphed into brunch. As the day wore on with still no food having being served, English breakfast became lunch and then afternoon tea.

By the time starters were served, the sun had gone down. Despite how late the food was served, Friday’s night dinner in Brussels may just go down as the most important meal in modern European history.

After 31 hours of tortuous negotiation, British Prime Minister David Cameron joined counterparts from the European Union’s (EU) 28-member states at a meal to celebrate an agreement that might be enough to keep the UK within the 28-nation bloc.

With European leaders tucking into a distinctly un-breakfast-like dish of fillet of veal with tarragon, Mr Cameron was able to proclaim that Britain would never become part of a “European superstate” thanks to the hard-fought deal.

Just for starters. EU leaders sit down for dinner after signing a deal that they hope will keep Britain with the European Union. Photo: AP.

BREXIT AVOIDED?

Whether it will be enough to win over the UK public, who will have the final decision on whether the country remains with the EU, remains to be seen.

The UK joined the EU’s predecessor, the European Economic Community, in 1973. But a British exit, or “Brexit” as it’s known, may not only break up Europe, but the entire UK as well.

Mr Cameron claimed that, under the deal, Britain would be allowed to stay on the EU sidelines if other nations sought a closer union and pledged the economy will prosper outside the euro area. The deal also makes tweaks aimed at giving national parliaments more power.

“This is enough for me to recommend that the United Kingdom remain in the European Union having the best of both worlds.”

“Turning our back on Europe is no solution at all,” he said, adding that the new deal would guarantee for a “live and let live” approach which will fit Britain like a glove.

But critics of the deal are already out in force, with Nigel Farage, leader of the pro-Brexit UK Independence Party (UKIP) deriding the agreement as sidestepping the fundamental concerns people have both the EU.

“Dave’s deal is not worth the paper that it’s written on,” he said on Friday.

Are the Brits as enthusiastic about Europe as UK Prime Minister David Cameron? Picture: AP Photo

IMMIGRATION

Mr Cameron’s centre-right Conservative Party won Britain’s 2015 general election on the promise of a referendum to decide the country’s future in the EU. Concerns over immigration within the EU’s borders, disquiet about the level of influence of EU politicians on British laws and the shaky economies of the European continent had led to the rise of UKIP which was snaring the votes of previously committed Conservatives.

Not that the UK didn’t already have a somewhat standoffish relationship with the EU. Along with Ireland, it had negotiated to remain separate from the Schengen agreement which tore down Europe’s physical internal borders while it is one of the few EU members under no compulsion to adopt the euro as its currency.

However, there were demands for more and Mr Cameron will be hoping that is what he’s achieved with an agreement that he says gives Britain a “special status” with the EU.

Most of the tensions at the talk surrounded a change to suspend or restrict benefit payments made to workers from other EU countries. Immigration is an especially sensitive point for British voters, because Britain has attracted hundreds of thousands of workers from Eastern Europe in the past decade, drawn by the prospect of higher-paying jobs.

UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage wants out of the EU. Photo: AFP

BYE BRUSSELS, ADIEU EDINBURGH?

Despite the tensions, EU leaders ultimately wanted Britain, a major world economy, to stay in the bloc — a point argued Friday by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. A British exit “would be bad news for the EU — but also for the UK. It would end up as a mid-sized economy somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” he said.

EU President Donald Tusk added there was “unanimous support” for the “new settlement.”

“I really do believe that David can go home and advise the British people to say yes to being in the EU,” Estonian Prime Minister Taavi Roivas said.

While Mr Cameron has until the end of 2017 to hold a referendum on the UK’s membership, many are predicting the vote could happen as early as June. While the leadership of all the main UK parties - UKIP excepted - favour remaining in the EU, many within Mr Cameron’s Conservatives will be campaigning for a no vote. Public opinion polls are evenly split between staying with the EU and walking.

However, if a majority of Britons do indeed vote to leave the EU, it could mean more than just saying goodbye to Brussels - it could mean bidding Edinburgh adieu as well.

Scots may have voted to remain part of the UK in 2014, but Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who is also leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party, has said a no vote could be a trigger for another referendum. Particularly if a majority of those north of the border vote to stay with the EU.

“If you try to take Scotland out of the EU against our democratic wishes, you will be breaching the terms of [the independence] vote,” she said in October last year, as reported by the Telegraph.

“In those circumstances, you may well find that the demand for a second independence referendum is unstoppable.”

That might be a meal Downing St never wants to stomach.

— with AP.