Cameron has to decide on Britain’s place in the EU

Despite the public protestations of British Prime Minister David Cameron to the contrary, he would likely admit in private that there is much more that unites than divides him and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Both are staunch small-‘C’ conservatives, rely on the support of centrist parties to maintain power and are leading economies that are struggling to fire on all four cylinders. Both leaders also agree on the need to reform the European Union — though Cameron, given the rising popularity of the United Kingdom Independence Party and the prospect of a tough slog in May’s general election, diverges on the need to control the movement of labour across the bloc.

Before getting down to serious talks in London, both leaders issued a joint statement that underlined the need to make “the EU more stable and competitive than it is today”. They stressed the need to harness the potential of the single market and reduce regulation that is hampering its progress.

For Cameron, that means returning more powers back to the UK; for Merkel, it means getting all of the 27 nations to agree on a course for future political and economic stability, sorting out the euro once and for all — and trying to get Cameron to decide on the UK’s place in the bloc. Trouble is, Cameron has to win a second term — and even then he’s politically committed to hold an “in-or-out” vote by 2017.