David Cameron's clamour to open the EU treaties to get a new deal for Britain in Europe could trigger a whole stream of risky national votes, senior EU officials have said amid exasperation with the prime minister's abrupt concession to Tory backbenchers on the referendum bill.
European leaders declined to say anything publicly about the Conservative plans for a draft bill on an in-out EU referendum. It is being interpreted in Brussels as internal Tory party politicking, but privately there is acute and increasing frustration with Cameron's tactics.
They complained that while in Washington Cameron launched another round of Brussels-bashing when he was supposed to be promoting the merits of a potential gamechanging trade pact between the EU and the US.
"It's the frustration, even on things like this when it would be better to talk up the EU. You would actually have thought this was just a US-UK trade pact," said one official. "It's the kind of stuff where you just feel you're banging your head off the wall."
Another senior official said: "It's pure political posturing. Pure ideology. British pragmatism has gone away."
Read more: EU referendum: Cameron move 'exasperates' senior Brussels officials | Politics | guardian.co.uk
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