Merkel wants 'strong' Britain in EU

(BRUSSELS) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Wednesday that she wanted a strong Britain in the EU, just hours ahead of expected tough talks in London on the bloc's hotly contested 2014-20 budget.

"I want to have a strong UK in the EU, let me make that absolutely clear," Merkel told European lawmakers after leading eurosceptic MEP Nigel Farage said it was time for London and Brussels to go their separate ways.

Farage, of the UK Independence Party, said Merkel should tell British Prime Minister David Cameron that the time had come for "a simple amicable divorce" as feeling in the UK runs completely against the tide of the greater EU integration touted by the German leader.

"I cannot imagine that the UK would not be part of Europe," Merkel retorted, recalling Britain's role in ending Nazi rule in Germany in 1945.

"I think it is also good for the UK to be in Europe," the chancellor said, adding that she would do "everything" to ensure this is the case.

The chancellor will be in London later Wednesday for a working dinner with Cameron amid growing tensions over the EU budget before a summit at the end of the month.

Germany's push for ever-greater EU coordination to combat the debt crisis goes down very badly in Britain where many resent what they see as the increasingly intrusive -- and costly -- role taken by Brussels in what should be national affairs only.

"The coalition government is committed to Britain playing a leading role in the EU but I must also be frank: public disillusionment with the EU in our country is the deepest it has ever been," Foreign Secretary William Hague told a foreign policy forum in Berlin last month.