"UK, EU getting closer to a compromise"
The UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says his country is getting closer to a compromise with its European Union partners over curbing welfare payments to EU migrants.
Hammond who is visiting Turkey said if no deal with the EU could be reached at a European Council meeting in February he was hopeful it would happen at the next.
"Even as we speak we have civil servants working with (European) Council representatives trying to come up with a satisfactory proposal ... which can be circulated before the Council meeting in February," he said.
The statements come as British Prime Minister David Cameron is trying to reform Britain's membership terms before it votes on whether to stay in the EU. Now reports say the vote is expected to be held this year.
Britain's Europe Minister David Lidington said there had been progress on British demands, which also include greater competition in the EU, more sovereignty for Britain and safeguards for the City of London as a financial centre.
EU membership has long been a hot topic in Britain. Eurosceptics, who believe the UK would be better off outside the political and economic union, seek the UK's withdrawal from the EU. Various polls have indicated that the British public is divided on the issue.
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