Brussels, 08/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - British Prime Minister David Cameron has not been able to obtain further commitment in his direction from Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel as regards freedom of movement within the EU.
According to the British press, Cameron - who welcomed Merkel in Downing Street on Wednesday 7 January - received a polite but firm refusal on a possible Treaty change, although Merkel recognised that “the abuse” of free movement needed to be addressed. Merkel is of the opinion that it is at member state level that the necessary adjustments must be made - in particular, limiting migrants' access to social benefits. Cameron insisted that he supported the principle of freedom of movement but “what I don't support is the abuse of freedom of movement”, he told a press conference.
During the press conference Cameron also repeated that he did not want his country to leave the EU, but that he wanted reform within the EU. At the start of the week he said he wanted to bring forward the date of the referendum on the EU that he has promised the UK if he wins the elections in May. Merkel repeated that she too wanted the UK to remain part of the EU, saying that she did not want to hide this. She refused to envisage a scenario of the UK leaving it.
After their press conference, Cameron and Merkel were due to tackle preparation of the G7 summit to be held in the south of Germany on 7-8 June, French news agency AFP reported. During the morning they had published a joint statement in which they called for more to be done to make the EU more stable and competitive than it currently is, and to encourage free enterprise and trade - particularly by adopting the free trade agreement with the US in 2015. (SP)