Improved competitiveness and greater prosperity

David Cameron and Angela Merkel aim to strengthen Europe within the G7 Source: Bundesregierung/Kugler

Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron announced that they would be discussing important matters to take the German-British agenda to a new level, also with a view to Germany’s G7 Presidency, and that they would be consulting and coordinating with one another.

Attack in Paris overshadows meeting

The act of terrorism in Paris overshadowed the Chancellor’s visit to London. "What has happened in Paris today is a barbarous attack against all of the values we in Europe share. We strongly condemn these attacks and our thoughts go out to the French people, particularly to those who have lost loved ones today. This is an attack against the values we all hold dear, values by which we stand, values of freedom of the press, freedom and democracy. Our thoughts are with the French people and we will do everything we can to help France in this extremely difficult situation," said Angela Merkel.

Preparations for the G7 summit

Speaking to the press in London, Angela Merkel and David Cameron underscored the fact that their meeting was also intended to counter the current lack of stability of the global economy. The two countries see themselves as strong partners and aim to take action to reduce indebtedness and invest more. It is important to take this opportunity to encourage growth, to make the most of the Single Market and to dismantle barriers to trade.

They stated that they support all efforts to progress with the TTIP free trade agreement with the USA, and that they aim to ratify the CETA agreement with Canada by the end of 2015. At the G7 summit in the United Kingdom Europeans and the American President gave the go-ahead for the free trade agreement, and the aim will naturally be to make further progress during this G7 Presidency.

Priorities of the G7 summit

• A crackdown on tax evasion and tax avoidance and achieving greater transparency in this field. It is vitally important to ensure that companies pay the taxes that they ought to pay.

• Learning from the Ebola crisis, to ensure that there is a swifter response in future to global health emergencies of this sort. The focus should be on the way we deal with the problem of drug-resistant infections.

• Russia and Ukraine. Finding a way to resolve the crisis. There is a way forward and there is still time for President Vladimir Putin to change course, next week for instance at the meeting with President Petro Poroshenko. The G7 states will continue to support Ukraine, to address the country’s urgent needs. This must, however, be accompanied by reforms in Kyiv.

• Other topics on the agenda will include protecting the world’s marine environment, enabling women to become self-employed, the new Climate Agreement, and the further development of the Millennium Development Goals as the new Sustainable Development Goals.

Since June 2014 Germany has held the G7 Presidency. The G7 is the Group of the Seven leading industrialised nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the USA.

EU reform

David Cameron welcomed the Chancellor’s willingness to work with the British to find solutions, especially with regard to the EU budget and the question of the competitiveness of Europe. "It’s about securing what is in the best long term interests of Britain and also, I believe, the long term interests of Europe too. And then of course, we will give the British people the final say in a referendum," he said.

Strengthening the EU

Another equally important concern of both countries is to make the EU more stable and more competitive. This is why both heads of government have taken steps to consolidate public finances in their respective countries, they continued in their joint statement. They agreed that it is important to continue to pursue this plan in the long term.

Angela Merkel and David Cameron advocated that trade barriers be removed and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the USA finalised this year. The priority must be to take further steps to fully exploit the potential offered by the European Single Market and to scale back regulations that hamper economic activities.

Visit to the British Museum

During her visit to London the Chancellor also took the opportunity to visit the British Museum’s exhibition "Germany: Memories of a Nation". Both Angela Merkel and David Cameron praised the exhibition. The Chancellor expressed her delight that it has already attracted so many British visitors, with visitor numbers exceeding all expectations. "That is a good sign for our partnership – not only between us politicians, but between our two peoples," said Angela Merkel.

The 200 or so exhibits on display at the British Museum illustrate six hundred years of German culture and history. Parallel to the exhibition, the museum is offering a wide range of related films, concerts, readings and lectures.

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