MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) - The European Union is "too big, too bossy and too interfering" and Britain will fight hard to renegotiate its relationship with the bloc, Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday.
Cameron, whose Conservative Party won a majority at an election in May, has promised to reform Britain's relationship with the EU before a membership referendum due by the end of 2017.
"We don't duck fights. We get stuck in. We fix problems," he told the Conservative Party annual conference in the northern English city of Manchester.
"Believe me, I have no romantic attachment to the European Union and its institutions. I'm only interested in two things: Britain's prosperity and Britain's influence. That's why I'm going to fight so hard in this renegotiation, so we can get a better deal and the best of both worlds."
Cameron also said Britain must play its part in defeating Islamic State militants in Syria, and that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must go to achieve peace in the country.
(Reporting by Kylie MacLellan and William James and Guy Faulconbridge, editing by Elizabeth Piper)
