Eurozone crisis to dominate Cameron talks with Merkel
Baku, November 18 (AZERTAC). David Cameron and Angela Merkel are to meet in Berlin to hold talks set to be dominated by the eurozone debt crisis.
The UK and German leaders have both been pressing for action to stabilise the euro as Italy and Greece move to implement urgent austerity measures.
But there are tensions between the two countries over the idea of a financial transactions tax, described by one UK minister as a "tax on Britain".
And Germany is pressing for closer EU integration, which the UK opposes.
Mrs Merkel`s governing party, the CDU, wants the EU`s Lisbon Treaty to be amended to sanction a move towards closer fiscal union within the eurozone and says negotiations should begin at once.
Senior CDU figures have suggested that if all 27 EU countries cannot agree, the change should be approved by those countries which use the single currency - of which the UK is not a member.
Speaking earlier this week, Mrs Merkel said the EU needed more powers to ensure budget discipline among member states and Germany was willing to give up sovereignty in some areas to facilitate this.
In contrast, Mr Cameron is pushing for the UK to take powers back from Brussels in pursuit of what he says is his goal of a more flexible and diverse Europe.
In the event of eurozone members moving closer together, the UK has said it wants safeguards that those outside the single currency area will not be disadvantaged in terms of access to the single market and regulations on key sectors like finance.
But there are concerns Germany is determined to push ahead with a tax on financial transactions, known as the Tobin Tax, in an effort to regulate the markets.
The idea, also backed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has caused alarm in the UK amid concerns that the US, China and other major economies may not come on board and the City of London would be seriously damaged if the tax only applied across Europe.British ministers reacted angrily to recent remarks by a senior member of Mrs Merkel`s party, Volker Kauder, who suggested the UK may need to make concessions on the issue of the tax and must show more collective responsibility in Europe.
Chancellor George Osborne said a Europe-only tax would be "economic suicide" while Business Secretary Vince Cable said the UK would not "fall for" such an idea, which he said had nothing to do with the urgent problems facing Europe on productivity and employment.
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