David Cameron is flying to Berlin later to press his demands for sweeping reform of the European Union.
The prime minister believes the EU needs to change to allow the UK, or other members, not to be bound by all of its decisions.
Mr Cameron will be accompanied on the visit by his wife Samantha and their three children, following an invitation from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Talks will also cover the forthcoming G8 summit in the UK, and Syria.
No 10 has also said it was trying to reschedule a meeting with French President Francois Hollande after Mr Cameron pulled out of talks in Paris on Monday, following the death of Baroness Thatcher.
Labour said Mr Cameron’s trip to Germany showed the prime minister was “marooned” between the demands of Tory backbenchers and what European leaders would accept.
In his keynote speech on Britain’s future in Europe earlier this year, Mr Cameron pledged to hold an in-out referendum during the early part of the next parliament – by the end of 2017 at the latest – if the Conservatives win the next general election.
He has argued a new settlement is needed before UK voters are asked if they want to end ties with Brussels.
Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Mr Cameron said the best outcome for Britain would be “membership of a reformed European Union”.
‘Flexible Europe’
In an unusual move, Mrs Merkel has invited the prime minister and his family to stay at her official residence – the Federal government guesthouse, an 18th century Baroque palace, in Meseberg, north west of Berlin.
The visit will be the first time the Camerons have taken their three children on an official foreign trip. Mrs Cameron has previously accompanied her husband to the US.
Mrs Merkel will be joined by her husband Joachim Sauer.
Mr Cameron is facing resistance from France and Germany over his plans to create new EU agreements.
But BBC News Europe editor Gavin Hewitt said the visit reflects the good relationship between the two leaders and the German chancellor’s determination to keep Britain in the EU.
The meeting is private and informal, but Mr Cameron will argue his case that the EU needs to reform, our correspondent added.
Mr Cameron believes there will have to be treaty change to solve the problems in the eurozone and that gives Britain a new relationship with Europe.
In the joint interviews with five European newspapers, Mr Cameron said the EU had “sometimes overreached itself with directives and interventions and interference”.
“I think we can have a flexible Europe where we don’t all have to do the same things in the same way at the same time,” he added.
Mr Cameron stressed it was important to respond to falling support for the EU in Britain.
He described support for the UK’s membership of the EU as “wafer thin”.
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