European Union leaders negotiated through the night in Brussels Friday to agree on a series of reforms that will be implemented throughout the EU if Britain decides in a June 23 referendum to remain a member state.

Among other things, the deal grants Britain an explicit exemption from the founding goal of an “ever closer union“ and offers concessions on the welfare rights of migrant workers and safeguards for the City of London.

Prime Minister David Cameron says he can now recommend to the British people that they vote in favour of continuing their EU membership.

“I believe that Britain will be safer, stronger and better off by remaining in a reformed European Union,” Cameron said outside his Number 10 Downing Street residence in London.

Sipilä: “What we were expecting”

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipilä says the final agreement met general expectations. Sipilä attended the meeting in Brussels and said that most of the demands that Cameron brought to the table were eventually approved, with only a few minor tweaks to the timelines.

“Otherwise the accord is pretty much word for word as it was originally presented. There may have been a bit of dithering, but everyone pretty much expected that this would be the end result,” Sipilä said.

Finland’s premier is satisfied with the content of the deal, which sits well with Finland’s official government programme regarding EU guidelines. As chair of the country’s Centre Party and a self-made millionaire, he particularly likes the deal’s plans to improve EU-wide regulation and lighten control of business enterprises.

“It was worth investing the time to keep such a significant country in the EU,” Sipilä said. “Now the emphasis will shift to making sure Britain’s ‘Yes’ campaign is successful. We hope it will be, for Prime Minister Cameron’s sake.”

Soini: “Better than nothing”

Foreign Minister Timo Soini assessed the British deal on Saturday in his blog. He said the British prime minister managed to “push things thorough”, but didn’t achieve a decisive win.

According to the Eurosceptic Finns Party leader, the EU deal is a ”weak compromise, but a lot better than nothing, yet even so, far from what the public back home had wanted”.

He predicts that the deal will face fierce criticism in Britain.

“I’ve been in contact with many of my friends there this morning. As Independence Party supporters, they will not be swayed. They want out of the EU. A surprising number of Conservatives want out too, even in the upper echelons of the party,” he says.

Soini writes in his blog that “each agreement is an improvement on the status quo”, but says the British deal will not inspire anyone to jump for joy.

Stubb: “Good and balanced”

Finance Minister Alexander Stubb of Finland’s conservative National Coalition Party (NCP) commented on the deal to Yle reporters in Lahti. He says the EU leadership arrived at a “good and balanced agreement”.

He said the European Union is now at a crossroads and the next few months will resolve a lot of things.

“I sincerely hope the ’Yes’ team is victorious,” he said.

He believes that the threat that Britain may leave the EU has not abated, however, as referendums that put the vote to the people are always unpredictable.

“External factors, like the asylum seeker situation or a potential terrorist attack, can still have a great effect,” he said.

Stubb maintains that if Britain stays in the EU, it will be good news for Finland, as Finland has the same objectives as the Brits were pushing for with their reform demands: to do away with standards and free up internal markets.

“Britain managed to secure small exceptions to rules regarding freedom of movement, but these will have little significance for us,” he said, adding that they will perhaps have more effect among Eastern European countries.

“There is great potential for disaster if Britain leaves the EU. We will do everything in our power to make sure it will not.”

Opposition: “Selfish behaviour”

Former Social Democratic Party chair and MP Jutta Urpilainen and veteran NCP politician Pertti Salolainen appeared on Yle’s morning television programme on Saturday to comment on the deal.

Urpilainen says the EU is clearly going through an era of selfish behaviour and has been unable to “make joint decisions to defend the best interests of all of the member states and a common union”.

She said that the EU has instead become mired in a situation in which each of the member states are increasingly making their own decisions, according to their individual national criteria.

When asked how the British deal will affect the rest of the EU community, chair of the parliamentary foreign affairs committee Pertti Salolainen said that it is anyone’s guess because “there are so many variable factors”.

“What will happen now? [British Prime Minister David] Cameron will go to London and tell everyone that he made the leaders in Brussels bow to his will. I won, he will say, and so know you need to support me and the result that I have secured for us. He has to return home as the victor, and win over the others.”