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Do new EU proposals bring Britain back from the brink of a Brexit?

European Council President Donald Tusk released a letter Tuesday outlining draft proposals to address British concerns and keep it in the European Union. Is it enough?

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Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/File
In this June 26, 2015 file photo, European Council President Donald Tusk, left, speaks with British Prime Minister David Cameron during a round table meeting at an EU summit in Brussels.

A letter released Tuesday by European Council President Donald Tusk seeks to address British demands for renegotiating the relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union.

British Prime Minister David Cameron has previously outlined the main areas of the relationship he sees as ripe for change.

He has been seeking a deal on these issues in advance of a referendum likely to take place later this year, in which the UK will vote on whether to remain a part of the European Union.

Reaction to Mr. Tusk鈥檚 proposals has so far been mixed, as people seek to assess its impact and determine whether it is enough to keep Britons from voting to leave.

鈥淲e said we needed to deliver in four key areas, this document shows real progress on that front,鈥 Mr. Cameron said聽. 鈥淚 can say, , I have delivered the commitments made in my manifesto.鈥

Not everyone was quite so effusive in their praise of Tusk鈥檚 letter, nor of the prime minister鈥檚 negotiations.

鈥淓ven an escapologist as slippery as David Cameron, no stranger to breaking promises on the EU, cast-iron or otherwise, found himself of so-called reforms at today鈥檚 press conference,鈥 said Arron Banks of Leave.EU, a campaign group seeking to take the UK out of the EU.

Former UK defense secretary Liam Fox, supporter of Vote Leave, the other group campaigning to sever ties with the EU, said: 鈥淣one of these changes even come close to the fundamental changes promised to the public. We are being asked to risk staying in the EU based on the back of empty promises from the EU that are .鈥

Such reactions are perhaps not surprising, given the nature of the groups they represent, but it is true to say that even this set of proposals has yet to be approved by the rest of the EU member countries, who are set to hash it out during a summit on Feb. 18-19.

And, as pointed out by The Spectator, a British magazine generally supportive of the prime minister鈥檚 Conservative party, 鈥淧ro-Brexit campaigners have argued that IOUs for future treaty change won鈥檛 be believed by the British people in the referendum, and this statement possible treaty change, rather than states that it will happen."

So, what does the letter say?

鈥淜eeping the unity of the European Union is the biggest challenge for all of us and so it is the ,鈥 begins Tusk. 鈥淚t is in this spirit that I put forward a proposal for a new settlement of the United Kingdom within the EU.鈥

The suggested deal then tackles four main areas: ensuring fair representation of EU members not enrolled in the euro, as well as those that are; efforts to cut red tape; clarification that the UK 鈥渋s not committed to further political integration鈥, something of particular concern in light of the EU鈥檚 stated aim of 鈥溾; and, finally, immigration.

It is, perhaps, proposals on this last point that have caused most disagreement.

The Independent鈥檚 headline for this entire story reads 鈥淓U refuses to give David Cameron the he asked for." The Spectator concurs, calling it a 鈥渨eaker benefits deal."

鈥淭he implementing act would 聽(PDF) to limit the access of Union workers newly entering its labor market to in-work benefits for a total period of up to four years from the commencement of employment,鈥 reads the draft decision.

鈥淭he limitation should be graduated, from an initial complete exclusion but gradually increasing access to such benefits to take account of the growing connection of the worker with the labor market of the host Member State.鈥

This falls far short of what Cameron wanted, a complete ban on in-work benefits for immigrants their first four years, and he freely admitted it would make it hard to meet his party鈥檚 manifesto pledge of people per year.

In spite of this, there were those who welcomed the deal, albeit cautiously.

The Institute of Directors, a group supporting business and its leaders, described the proposals as 鈥."

The CBI, a UK business lobbying organization, said, 鈥 on the way to a deal that could deliver positive changes to the EU that will benefit not just the UK, but the whole of Europe."

And what of the people? Where do they stand?

A on Jan. 29 indicated that 42 percent of people would vote to leave the EU, compared with 38 percent who would choose to stay.

Just a few days earlier, Ipsos MORI conducted a similar poll and found that and only 36 percent want to leave.

Clearly, there is everything still to strive for.

At the very least, in the words of Danish Prime Minister Lars L酶kke Rasmussen on Twitter, 鈥渓etter from Tusk on UK in EU ."

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