Cameron to Meet Merkel in Berlin Amid Potential Brexit Talks

UK Prime Minister David Cameron is expected to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday in Berlin as part of a round of meetings with European leaders over Britain's potential exit from the European Union.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Speaking in Paris on Thursday before a dinner with French President Francois Hollande, Cameron called for "flexible and imaginative" reforms of the 28-member bloc. The British prime minister also met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte during his whirlwind European trip, widely seen as a bid to fulfill his campaign pledge to hold a nationwide "Brexit" referendum by 2017.

Before completing his diplomatic tour with Merkel, the British leader is also due to meet Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz on Friday.

As Cameron's first day touring the European capitals came to a close on Thursday, the British government has introduced legislation on the EU referendum with a second hearing scheduled for June 9. The issue has become a hotly-discussed topic with the rise of euroskeptic and anti-immigration sentiment.

Cameron seeks to revise UK relations with the European Union ahead of the referendum, pushing Brussels to reform the system of contributions to the bloc's budget and to grant greater powers over migration control to member state governments.

Earlier media reports suggested that Hollande and Merkel had agreed on a pact to integrate the Eurozone without reopening EU treaties, sidestepping Cameron's demands to renegotiate the Lisbon Treaty, a document ensuring more freedom of movement by citizens among EU member states and more control from Brussels over asylum applications.