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Germany, Europe's largest economy, is keen to keep a kindred advocate of free trade and open markets inside the EU, and has been more measured in its criticism while making clear there are limits to how far it can go in accommodating British concerns. "It would be entirely wrong to respond to Prime Minister Cameron's overture with a kneejerk rejection", said Alexander Dobrindt, general secretary of the Christian Social Union (CSU).
Both the CSU and the FDP have become more critical of the European Union during the eurozone debt crisis amid concerns the currency area may turn into a 'transfer union', whereby richer countries such as Germany have to keep bailing out poorer neighbors.
But Dobrindt also signalled the limits of German patience. "It is clear that in an optimal Europe there can be no place for special rights for individual countries", he said, adding that included Britain's cherished rebate negotiated in the 1980s that reduces its contribution to the EU's central budget.