Merkel agrees to work 'constructively' with UK on EU reform

Angela Merkel said Germany would work “constructively” with the UK on EU reform, according to reports on Thursday.

However the German Chancellor stressed in the speech to the Bundestag lower house of parliament that some principles were non-negotiable, such as free movement of people.

"It goes without saying that we will work constructively with the British government," she said, according to a Reuters report.

"But it also goes without saying that there are things that are non-negotiable, that there are achievements of European integration that cannot be haggled over, for example the principle of free movement and the principle of non-discrimination," she said in the speech ahead of an EU summit.

Reuters reported Merkel was convinced that an acceptable compromise with the UK is possible.

The topic of the UK’s in-or-out referendum to determine the country's future in EU will not be discussed at the two-day European Council meeting, a senior German government official also told The Guardian.