BRUSSELS (AP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron's recurring complaint that the European Union is "too big, too bossy, too interfering" gained traction at an EU summit on Tuesday, after election results that underscored voter apathy and hostility forced government leaders across the bloc to consider profound change.
Protest voters turned out in droves while over half the 28-nation bloc's electorate failed to muster enough interest to go to their polling stations for European Parliament elections - giving a massive thumbs-down to how the EU functions. The anti-EU UK Independence Party topped the polls in Britain, and in France the extreme-right National Front overwhelmed all its rivals.
On Tuesday, Cameron said that "Europe should concentrate on what matters - growth and jobs - and not try to do so much."
The British leader had often seemed an outsider at EU summits where leaders have long sought ever closer unions. But this time, his EU peers were listening attentively, and he found his call for economic growth and job creation echoed by French President Francois Hollande.
Cameron also got support for his stance that Brussels needed to return many powers to its 28 member nations as soon as possible.
"The answer to the vote is less rules and less meddling from Europe," Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
Perhaps the tipping point turning the electorate against the EU came last year, when it was unable to address record unemployment crippling some member nations hit by the financial crisis while at the same time trying to ban refillable olive oil jugs from restaurant tables. The olive oil measure was quickly pulled back, yet it became emblematic to many for how the EU meddles in minor issues while losing sight of the big picture.
Cameron has promised his country a referendum on EU membership in 2017, raising the prospect of one of the biggest European nations leaving the EU.
"For Sweden and for the EU, it is of the utmost importance that Britain stays inside the EU and that we also take into account the situation we have in Britain when we formulate a new mandate," said Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.