British Prime Minister David Cameron prepared today to lobby German Chancellor Angela Merkel for "flexible and imaginative" EU reforms, but faces an uphill battle against Franco-German plans for a more integrated eurozone.
The second day of Cameron's European tour came as his government published a law paving the way for the controversial vote on whether Britain should leave the EU that must be held by the end of 2017.
The prime minister has moved rapidly to kickstart efforts to secure EU reforms before the referendum which he promised voters ahead of his surprise election win earlier this month.
"The status quo is not good enough and I think there are changes that can be made that can benefit not just Britain but the rest of Europe too," Cameron said before a dinner with French President Francois Hollande in Paris.
"My priority is to reform the European Union to make it more competitive and to address the concerns that British people have about our membership.
"We want to help the euro zone work better."
Hollande said that France wanted Britain to remain in the European Union, but that "it will be up to the British people to choose their future."
"David Cameron will present his proposals and we will discuss them and see how we can move forward," he added.
The British premier intends to speak to every EU leader before a summit in Brussels next month where the proposed British reforms will be discussed in more detail.
He met his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte for lunch in The Hague yesterday and will also meet today with Polish premier Ewa Kopacz.
Before Cameron set off, a British official said there were "27 nuts to crack" to secure concessions.
Cameron said earlier this week he was "confident" of securing a deal, but warned there would be "lots of noise, lots of ups and downs along the way".
Cameron argues that the EU should be retreating from further integration instead of embracing it, and that Europe risks a no vote in Britain by failing to change.
However, a proposal from Berlin and Paris for a summit next week on the future of the 19-member single currency not only mentions tightening ties in the eurozone, but doing so without changing the existing treaties that govern the EU.
