David Cameron faces another day of frantic negotiations to secure a new deal for the UK at tomorrow's meeting of EU leaders.
The British Prime Minister has been warned that he will have to go all out to win over eastern European leaders. Downing Street conceded there "are still details to be nailed down" to win an agreement this week.
But it insisted Mr Cameron's talks with key figures in Brussels on Tuesday had been "useful."
The Prime Minister was told he has an "extra mile" to go to persuade the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to back his proposed reforms.
Draft EU renegotiation document shows real progress in all four areas where UK needs change but there's more work to do.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) February 2, 2016
Most of Europe’s larger business representative organisations, including the Confederation of British Industry and IBEC here, have published an open letter backing the reform package, brokered by President of the EU Council, Donald Tusk, and up for discussion over the next two days.
Cameron needs unanimous support for these proposals from all other member states and the two major sticking points are Eastern European objections to limits on migrant benefits in the UK and French objections to more regulatory independence for the City of London
Eoin Drea, economist with the Maartens Research Institute in Brussels spoke to Breakfast Business, he says that a deal will be done if there are no "nasty surprises."
Mr Drea said that obstacles are more likely to come from Eastern countries, rather than France and other leading eurozone nations.
While it may come "down to the wire" and there is not a 100% guarantee that a deal will be passed, he believes that it will get over the line.
The European Council will meet tomorrow, and again on Friday. If reforms for the UK are passed, a in/out vote on EU membership is likely to take place on June 23rd.
