Italy and the renegotiation of the UK's EU membership

Conference opened by Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, followed by a roundtable with a panel of Italian and British experts.

UK citizens will vote on an in-or-out referendum on the UK's membership in the European Union by 2017. Prime Minister David Cameron has pledged to campaign for the UK to remain in the EU if he is successful in renegotiating a reformed UK relationship with the EU. While many EU member states have expressed a desire for the UK to remain in the European Union, their willingness to agree to British requests will depend on challenging and detailed negotiations. The event in Rome was an opportunity to exchange views between independent UK and Italian experts, identifying potential areas on which the UK and Italy could find common ground as a constructive input to keeping the UK in the EU on mutually acceptable terms.