Merkel’s Visit to Britain Sets New Tone After E.U. Rift
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Version 0 of 1. LONDON — The first thing Prime Minister David Cameron did when Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany arrived Wednesday for a half-day visit here was to take her to a German history exhibition at the British Museum. But after a friendly stroll through Europe’s past, the continent’s future was firmly back on the agenda — and with it Mr. Cameron’s hope that Ms. Merkel would help him mollify those in his party who clamor for an exit from the European Union, something both leaders say they are keen to avoid. The visit was overshadowed, however, by the terrorist attack in Paris, and after receiving a security briefing from British intelligence chiefs the two leaders jointly telephoned President François Hollande of France to express their support. “In this very desperate hour, we stand by the French people,” Ms. Merkel said later at a news conference. Mr. Cameron’s pledge to hold a referendum on European Union membership if he is re-elected in May, along with hints he has dropped about possible limitations on the free movement of people within the 28-member bloc, one of its central tenets, have strained relations between London and Berlin. Yet at a joint news conference on Wednesday, the gulf between the two leaders appeared to have narrowed. “Of course, the British citizens will decide, but I don’t want to hide from you that I very much like having the U.K. in a strong and successful European Union and like working with them for a better future,” Ms. Merkel said, speaking in German. “Where there is a will, there is a way.” Mr. Cameron, running down his wish list of immigration reforms within the union, left out his most contentious demand, one that would allow Britain to turn other Europeans away unless they had a job waiting. “I support freedom of movement, but what I don’t support is the abuse of freedom of movement,” he said, demanding only that jobseekers from other union countries not claim unemployment benefits, and that they might be asked to leave if they had not found work after six months. “I want to fix Britain’s relationship with the E.U., which the British people can find very frustrating,” Mr. Cameron said, adding that his aim remained “reform within the E.U. and a referendum in which Britain decides to stay in a reformed European Union.” Ms. Merkel has made clear that she will not back any concessions that require changing the treaties governing all member states and is opposed to any initiative challenging freedom of movement. But standing beside Mr. Cameron on Downing Street on Wednesday, she was happy to echo his language on benefit abuse. “We have no doubt about the principle of freedom of movement being in any way in question, but we also have to look at abuse of that principle,” the chancellor said, adding that “abuse needs to be fought against so that freedom of movement can prevail.” Five months before a hotly contested general election in Britain, immigration has emerged as a central theme in the campaign. With the U.K. Independence Party, which advocates cutting ties with the European Union and sharp curbs on immigration, eating into his conservative base, Mr. Cameron has come under pressure from his own party to take a harder line on both issues. Nigel Farage, the Independence Party leader, reacted to Wednesday’s comments with a disdainful post on Twitter: “Mr. Cameron made big overtures last month. But 48 hours with Ms. Merkel and he’s already repeatedly committing to open door immigration again.” Their differences over Europe aside, Mr. Cameron and Ms. Merkel have long had a warm rapport, based not least on a shared conservative philosophy and similar outlook on economic policy. If Ms. Merkel has become known for her uncompromising support of deficit-cutting — or austerity — in the southern nations of the euro area, Mr. Cameron’s coalition government has that reputation here. Over the past year, Mr. Cameron has spared no effort to court Ms. Merkel. The last time she visited, in February of last year, the German chancellor was given the unusual honor of addressing both houses of Parliament. Since then, there have been 31 British ministerial visits to Berlin, three times as many as German visits here, according to The Guardian. In June, Queen Elizabeth II, who delegates most travel to younger royal generations these days, is to make her fifth state visit to Germany. The prime minister praised the British Museum exhibition “Germany: Memories of a Nation,” which explores six centuries of German history on the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as a testament “to the collaboration of our two countries, and I believe that collaboration will get stronger.” Ms. Merkel chose to point out another lesson from the exhibition. It showed, she said, “the very fruitful mutual exchanges also in past centuries between European nations.” |