BERLIN (AP) – British Prime Minister David Cameron is pressing his case for a renegotiation of the country’s relationship with the European Union with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on the final stop of his two-day tour of four European capitals.
He arrived in Berlin Friday from Warsaw after morning meeting with Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz.
Cameron’s newly-elected Conservative government has promised to hold a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether Britain should remain within the EU. Ahead of that vote, he’s looking to get concessions on the terms of Britain’s membership.
In Paris on Thursday, Cameron urged the bloc’s 27 other members to be “flexible” and “imaginative” about the EU’s future – saying that his priority is “to make it more competitive and to address the concerns of the British people about our membership.”
Earlier this week, Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert reiterated Germany’s position, saying “we want, like many others in Europe, a strong Great Britain in the European Union.” He added that it was Britain’s responsibility, however, to decide what role the country would play in the EU.