Merkel, Cameron to meet as tension over Europe crackles
(BERLIN) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel hosts British Prime Minister David Cameron for talks Friday amid growing friction over how to restore stability in the face of Europe's debilitating debt crisis.
Cameron, arriving after talks with EU leaders in Brussels, and Merkel have clashed recently on the way forward for Europe as it suffers what she has called perhaps its most difficult hour since World War II.
While Merkel sees "more Europe" as the solution, with member states agreeing to cede more sovereignty on issues such as fiscal policy, Cameron has taken a hard eurosceptic line of late in response to domestic pressure.
He lashed out this week against "grand plans and utopian visions" and called for an EU with "the flexibility of a network, not the rigidity of a bloc". He has also evoked using the crisis to claw back powers from Brussels.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle sought to soothe British fears over Berlin's calls for limited treaty change to beef up the EU's fiscal rule book, in an interview published Friday in London's Financial Times.
Any European treaty changes restricted to the 17-member eurozone bloc will only arise as a last resort, he said, playing down anxiety over a potential two-tier Europe that could see non-euro countries sidelined.
German commentators fretted about the anti-Europe mood in London and said Cameron appeared to be seeking a scapegoat for troubling British economic data seen this week, including a record one million young people out of work.
"The atmosphere between the two countries is currently frostier than it has been in a long time," the centre-left daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung wrote.
"With his speech he has positioned himself firmly against Merkel, who is calling for more Europe. In Berlin this development is being viewed with concern."
The opposing views could put the two camps on a collision course ahead of a December 9 EU summit which may step up the role of Brussels in enforcing economic discipline among the eurozone nations.
The proposals could trigger the need for a limited change in the EU's rule-book, the Lisbon Treaty, and a commission official confirmed that treaty change was on the menu at talks Cameron held earlier Friday with commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso.
Germany would like to see Britain, which is not a member of the eurozone, do more to help resolve the debt crisis such as support a financial transaction tax, which the City of London fears would spook investors.
However Merkel has grudgingly conceded that Berlin would move forward with the tax in the 17-nation eurozone alone if need be.
Meanwhile the combative parliamentary group leader of Merkel's Christian Democratic Union party, Volker Kauder, ruffled feathers this week with a call for Britain to "do its part" in rescuing the euro.
He also staked a claim to Berlin's leadership in Europe, saying it was now "speaking German", which provoked howls of protest in some corners of the British press.
Cameron has for his part urged the European Central Bank to be used as a "big bazooka" to defend the euro by buying up bonds on a major scale and becoming the lender of last resort to debt-mired countries -- moves Berlin strongly opposes.
New ECB chief Mario Draghi on Friday brushed off the political pressure, saying its overriding task was to safeguard price stability and that governments must get their finances in order to buck the crisis.
In the current environment, the "continuity, consistency and credibility" of the ECB and its monetary policy were "essential", the Italian central banker said.
Japan, fearful of the global impact of the European turmoil, also joined the fray, calling on Germany as Europe's top economy to step up and help plug the widening hole in the eurozone's finances.
"It is important for Germany to (play) a central role in creating a firm funding scheme that we can refer to as a firewall," Finance Minister Jun Azumi told a news conference, Dow Jones newswires reported.