In a speech before the German parliament, Chancellor Angela Merkel defended the new regulations on what she called "destructive" behavior by financial markets.

VOA: standard.2010.05.19

Her writing of the harshness of life in a small, German-speaking Romanian village spoke of corruption and repression and her fight for free speech.

VOA: standard.2009.10.08

The Bloomberg name is an Anglicisation of Blumberg, in Yiddish, or German, and the Cameron speech started with some solid historical roots for the European project.

BBC: Is it "The Bloomberg Speech"?

German papers were also critical of the speech, with Carsten Volkery writing on the website of the weekly Spiegel that David Cameron was not able to get rid of "the old curse of the Tories", who were constantly preoccupied with Europe.

BBC: Cameron speech heats up debate in European press

Downing Street said Mr Cameron would be holding talks with EU counterparts ahead of his speech, and had spoken to the German and Dutch leaders at the weekend.

BBC: David Cameron in the Today studio