Cameron says UK wants more flexible EU

British Prime Minister David Cameron says the European Union will have to become more flexible if it wants his country to stay in the 28-nation bloc.

Cameron has told an employers' organization he wants a looser, "more competitive" EU that gives greater protection to countries, including Britain, that don't use the euro currency.

"You can boil down all of my negotiations to one word: flexibility. Is this organisation flexible enough to make sure that countries inside the eurozone can grow and succeed, and countries outside the eurozone like Britain can find what they need as well," he said.

"If it's flexible enough, we'll stay. If it's not flexible enough we'll have to ask ourselves a very profound question: is this organisation for us?"

Britain is holding a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether to remain in the bloc.

Cameron will publish his list of negotiating demands Tuesday in a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk.

On Monday, he said he is seeking "a live-and-let-live Europe, a flexible Europe" that lets Britain remain outside of closer political and economic ties binding the eurozone countries.

Cameron said "we want to be in a common market, not a common country," AP reported. 

He further emphasized that Britain can survive outside the European Union.

"The argument isn't whether Britain could survive outside of Europe. Of course it could," he said.

"The argument is how we could be best off," Cameron added.

The British prime minister further said that some of Britain's demands would require changing EU treaties -- or at least a binding promise that treaties will be changed.

"What we need to change, some of it does involve changing the treaties," he said.

"What we need to do is get agreement from the other 27 EU countries that that's going to happen... We need to set out that that is legally binding and irreversible," he said.