Merkel visit to lay out extent of help on EU
MESEBERG, GERMANY - APRIL 12: British Prime Minister David Cameron speaks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a stroll in the garden following his arrival at the Meseberg government guest house on April 12, 2013 in Meseberg, Germany. Cameron and Merkel are meeting for two days in Meseberg to discuss the current European financial crisis and other matters. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)©Getty
Angela Merkel will holds talks with David Cameron in Downing Street on Wednesday on a UK visit that is expected to set out her limits for helping the prime minister renegotiate Britain’s relationship with Europe.
The German chancellor wants to keep Britain in the EU but she has made it clear that she will not support any initiative by Mr Cameron that would unpick existing treaties or challenge the principle of free movement.
Although Ms Merkel’s visit is primarily focused on her chairmanship of the G7 this year — with talks expected on Ukraine and the world economy — she knows the media will want her to set out her ground rules for a UK renegotiation.
Berlin wishes to avoid raising British expectations about what Germany can do to help keep the UK inside the EU in the face of rising euroscepticism in Britain and the prospect of a membership referendum.
The German government said that “bilateral, European and international issues” would be discussed with Mr Cameron. Asked on Monday about the trip’s purpose, Steffen Seibert, Ms Merkel’s spokesman, added little beyond saying that talks on EU issues were “possible”.
Ms Merkel is expected to explain how Germany has tried to allay growing public concern about immigration by curbing access to the country’s welfare state — measures permissible under EU law.
She has warned against opening the “Pandora’s Box” of wholesale treaty renegotiation — with the subsequent need for referendums in a number of member states.
While Ms Merkel has a good personal relationship with Mr Cameron, it has been strained in recent months, with the chancellor reportedly fearing the prime minister was leading Britain “to the point of no return” in Europe.
Their relations were also tested last summer when Ms Merkel ultimately backed Jean-Claude Juncker as the new European Commission president, after privately telling Mr Cameron she would try to block his appointment.
But Mr Cameron attempted to improve relations with Berlin last November in a speech on European reform and immigration that heeded Ms Merkel’s warnings that she would not back quotas or caps on EU migration.
Ms Merkel wants to stay out of the British general election campaign and may be relieved that Ed Miliband, Labour leader, did not seek a meeting.
Berlin kept the visit quiet until last Friday and it is thought that Mr Miliband’s office was unaware of it.
Both Berlin and Mr Miliband’s office say that it would have been unusual to schedule such a meeting on a short G7-related bilateral visit, although Mr Cameron will be relieved that Ms Merkel is not affording the Labour leader any time.
During her visit, Mr Cameron and Ms Merkel will go together to the British museum to see an exhibition on German history, a project driven by the museum’s director Neil MacGregor.
“Germany: Memories of a Nation” has attracted much attention in Germany and includes a Gutenberg Bible, Iron Cross and the inscription from the gates of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
Mr MacGregor, a German speaker, is seen in Berlin as a natural candidate to run the Humboldt-Forum, a new museum and arts complex at the Berlin City Palace, although he is also sought after by museums in Paris and the US.