British PM calls for EU reforms

The European Union needs reforms and Britain should choose to remain part of a reformed Europe, British Prime Minister David Cameron said here Friday. "There is some normal unhappiness about the current state of the European Union," Cameron told political and business elites at the World Economic Forum. He said reforms are needed in the EU, especially to fix some faults in the 18-member euro zone. "There was no single currency in the world that could succeed without elements of a banking union, without elements of a fiscal union, without elements of more policies in common support," Cameron said. "The currency is not provided for that. So it needs to be changed." Instead of waiting for problems to disappear, he said, strategies are needed to address and deal with the problems. "Let's try to reform the European Union, let's try to reform Britain's relations with the European Union, let's put that in a referendum of the British public before the end of 2017," he said. It will be good for Britain to stay in the EU, he said, adding that he is confident that negotiations on the reforms and Britain-EU relations will be successful, as will the 2017 referendum.