The FINANCIAL -- Poland on Thursday said a plan by British Premier David Cameron to hold an in-out referendum on his country's membership of the European Union has "shifted" Britain into the position of a "special needs" state.

"Cameron shifted the position of his country in the hierarchy of the European Union from one which was a natural member of the trio -- with France and Germany -- which could govern the EU, to the category of a 'special needs' state which must be prevented from doing something unwise, which could cause it harm, and lead it out of the EU," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told the commercial TOK FM radio station.

In a long-awaited speech Cameron said Wednesday that he wants to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership before putting the new deal to a vote.

As EUbusiness said, he promised a referendum between 2015-17. That is after the next British election, so it will only take place if Cameron's Conservative Party remain in power after a vote that must take place by 2015 at the latest.

But the Oxford-educated Sikorski said Thursday he was convinced that Britain would not exit the EU.

"This (Cameron's) political plan, will not result in Britain exiting the EU," Sikorski said.

Britain is most interested in broadening the scope of the free market within the EU, but does not want to be part of deeper political integration of the 27-member bloc, he added.

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