Donald Tusk is worried that the migrant crisis is going to make everyone vote for a Brexit
The Telegraph reports that in an address to the Committee of the Regions, a group of 350 local and regional politicians, Tusk warned that most British people are much more likely to blame the EU for the migrant crisis and vote for a Brexit, than care about what is in Prime Minister David Cameron's renegotiation deal.
Here's what Tusk said.
Migration is the first problem because I have no doubt that the details in this document are not as important for people in the UK as the main political mood ... The migration crisis is the worst political context for this referendum because it is so easy to blame the EU as a whole, the EU institutions, other European countries.
The revelation that Tusk has such a low opinion on the effectiveness of Cameron's renegotiation deal comes during the week that Tusk is doing everything he can to get EU leaders to agree to the same deal before they meet at the EU summit on February 18. If all the EU member states agree to the deal, Cameron will try and use it to convince the British public to vote to remain in the EU.
As well as warning that the renegotiation deal might not be convincing enough, Tusk also said that the referendum vote is so dangerous, and that he feels like "it is the day before World War One. This is because he is fearful that it will encourage other politicians in the EU to call for referendums of their own
It is not only intuition. In fact I know that there are politicians in Europe that want to copy this political model to underline that they are independent to Brussels and EU. This is most popular political melody in some capitals. It is obvious we have to do everything to keep British in Europe.
Tusk's comments come days after another heavyweight EU politician, the former president of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso said that Cameron's renegotiation deal won't do one of the main things it's supposed to - slow down migration into the UK.