David Cameron is to meet the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, this week for further discussions on the EU refugee crisis and Syria, as well as the state of Britain's talks on a renegotiated status in Europe. The planned meeting with the German chancellor comes after the work and pensions secretary, Iain Duncan Smith, claimed that Germany was petrified Britain might leave the EU and was in a panic over its influx of migrants from the Middle East. Duncan Smith likened the migration and Euro crises to an out-of-control bulldozer straight through the centre of Europe, forcing EU politicians to listen more closely to UK proposals. Conservative strategists are trying to keep the EU issue away from the floor at their party conference in Manchester to give Cameron time to set out his key negotiating demands at a December European council meeting of heads of state. The likely response from Merkel this week and fellow EU heads of state in December will inform Cameron's decision on when to call Britain's in/out referendum. The yes campaign to stay in Europe is expected to launch this week. Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today on Monday, the chancellor, George Osborne, said: "It is going to be a tough negotiation but we have made a good start. They (Britain's EU partners) are thinking about it. "The migrant crisis is quite a good example of how Britain has been able to carve a different role for itself. We are not part of the Schengen arrangement, so we are not part of the quota system where other EU countries have to accept quotas, and we can run our own system which is much more compassionate, so we go to the camps in Jordan and help people there. "Whether it is the euro crisis, or the migrant crisis, it has been shown that Britain can have this role in Europe where we are in Europe but not run by Europe. We need to make changes to secure that, but I am confident we can make those changes." Downing Street appears to be preparing the ground for the prime minister to lead the campaign to keep Britain in the European Union in the referendum, senior sources in the pro-EU camp have said. As Lord Heseltine said he could not imagine the circumstances in which the prime minister would campaign for a no vote, Cameron gave his strongest indication that he was determined to keep Britain in the EU when he said there was "no doubt" that the UK gains from its membership. In an interview on the Andrew Marr Show on BBC1 on Sunday, the prime minister said: "There are things we get out of Europe, no doubt about it. We are a trading nation. We don't just want access to Europe's markets. We need a say over the rules. That is what we get sitting round that table."
