Merkel welcomes 'a lot of material' from Macron on EU reform

Berlin

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomes French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on EU reform, her spokesman said on Wednesday, without giving details on how she would go about improving the way the European Union is run.

Mr Macron offered a sweeping vision for Europe's future in a speech on Tuesday, calling for the EU to cooperate more closely on defence, immigration, tax and social policy, and for the single currency bloc to have its own budget.