Deal with EU to give UK special status, Cameron says

British Prime Minister David Cameron says a deal reached with the European Union will give the UK "special status", vowing to campaign with his "heart and soul" to remain in the bloc.

Following two days and nights of talks in the Belgian capital Brussels, the EU leaders unanimously supported Cameron’s proposed reforms on Friday night to keep his country in the EU, avoiding a much-feared "Brexit."

"I have negotiated a deal to give the UK special status in the EU," Cameron said during a press conference in Brussels after the deal was clinched.

"Britain will never join the euro and we've secured vital protections for our economy and a full say over the rules of the free trade single market while remaining outside the euro," he stated, adding that the UK "will be permanently out of 'ever closer union'," one of the EU's founding principles.

The agreement paves the way for the UK's EU referendum, expected to be held in June, and guarantees that Britain will never be forced to bail out members of the eurozone.

Cameron also called on the people in the UK to vote in favor of remaining in the EU. "This is enough for me to recommend that Britain remain in the European Union." 

The deal also gives Britain the right to supervise financial institutions and markets to preserve financial stability.

The premier also noted that there will be "tough new restrictions on access" to the British welfare system for EU refugees and migrants, adding that London has secured an "emergency brake" that can be applied for seven years to restrict access to British in-work benefits.

Cameron must now sell his hard-earned deal to eurosceptics in his party and to the Britons before the in-out referendum on UK membership of the EU.

'Oliver Twist asking for seconds'

A number of British politicians slammed Cameron’s new deal with EU officials.

During a Friday rally organized by EU exit campaign Grassroots Out in Westminster, UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage said that “what has happened over the last 48 hours is the British prime minister has gone to meet 27 other heads of state, and frankly given an impression of Oliver Twist by saying please gentlemen, can I have some more concessions.”

"This deal that he’s done does not address the fundamental issues that the British people care about,” Farage added.

Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Vote Leave campaign, said the premier "will now declare victory but it is an entirely hollow one."

Eastern European countries have expressed concern that Cameron’s plans against migrants in the UK, a large number of whom hail from Europe’s east, are discriminatory and violate the EU principle of freedom of movement.

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