London - David Cameron started a two-day tour of European capitals Thursday in a bid to secure EU reforms as his government published a law paving the way for a vote on whether Britain should leave.
The British prime minister met his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte for lunch in The Hague and will have dinner with French President Francois Hollande in Paris before meetings on Friday with Polish premier Ewa Kopacz and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Cameron set off as his government confirmed that British voters will be asked: "Should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union?" in the referendum, which must be held by the end of 2017.
The question emerged in the EU Referendum Bill, which was formally laid before parliament and will be debated by the House of Commons for the first time on June 9.
The EU referendum is going ahead after Cameron's centre-right Conservatives won a clear majority at this month's general election.
No precise date for it has yet been set and Cameron has not ruled out holding it as early as next year.
Europe Minister David Lidington told reporters in London that the mood in the government was to hold it "in one sense the sooner the better" but that this should not come at the expense of getting negotiations right.
Before the vote, Cameron wants to persuade other European leaders of the need for reforms to the EU which he says will require treaty change.
In a sign of the obstacles Cameron could face, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Thursday that the referendum was "very risky" and "quite dangerous".
Fabius added that you could not "join a football club and decide in the middle of the match we are now going to play rugby".
AFP
