27 February 2014
Last updated at 12:27
She began her remarks in English before delivering the main part of her speech in German.
David Cameron is pulling out all the stops as he sees the German leader as crucial to his aims in Europe.
The speech was anticipated by all sides of the UK EU debate
He is hoping to persuade Mrs Merkel to accept the need for EU
treaty changes that would allow him to return powers from Brussels
before a promised referendum on Britain's EU membership in 2017.
The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Berlin was prepared to offer "limited opt-outs" to the UK over its future compliance with existing EU directives and to make sure some other regulations were more flexibly enforced.
UK PM David Cameron, right, awaits the speech with opposition leader Ed Miliband, left, and deputy PM Nick Clegg, centre.
The newspaper said it was a sign of the lengths that Germany
was willing to go to to ensure the UK remained a member of the EU amid
fears in Europe that a referendum could lead to British withdrawal.
But the BBC's Berlin Correspondent Stephen Evans said sources close to Mrs Merkel were playing down expectations of new proposals for the kind of changes British Conservatives wanted to see.
Although not an official state visit - Mrs Merkel is not head of state - the trip has been planned for months, with both governments aware of its political significance at a time of looming change in Europe.
Mrs Merkel is expected to speak for half an hour, in German, in front of an invited audience of dignitaries in the Palace of Westminster, including MPs, peers, diplomats, business and cultural leaders.
Leaders previously accorded the honour of addressing both House
of Parliament include French Presidents Charles de Gaulle, pictured
above, Valery Giscard d'Estaing and Francois Mitterrand, US presidents
Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, the Tibetan opposition leader the Dalai
Lama, Burmese politician Aung San Suu Kyi and former Russian president
Boris Yeltsin - click here for a full list.
Mrs Merkel's predecessor, Willy Brandt, addressed both chambers in 1970.
'Not a priority' After Thursday's address, Chancellor Merkel will meet a delegation of MPs and peers before having a working lunch with the prime minister at Downing Street.
The two centre-right leaders, both of whom govern in a coalition with other parties, will hold a press conference in which Mrs Merkel is likely to be pressed on whether she will support the UK's call for future treaty change in the EU.
David Cameron has said that if the Conservatives win the 2015 election, he will seek to renegotiate the terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and put the outcome to an in-out referendum of the British people in 2017.
But he faces a battle to convince leaders of other EU member states to agree to the treaty changes he will need, with French President Francois Hollande recently telling the prime minister, on a one-day visit to the UK, that it was "not a priority".
Mr Cameron is seen as having a warmer relationship with Mrs Merkel than Mr Hollande, although Berlin was angered by his decision to veto a fiscal compact in December 2011 in response to the eurozone debt crisis.
The prime minister and his wife Samantha visited the German chancellor's country residence last April, following a visit made by Mrs Merkel and her husband to Chequers in 2010.
The leader of Mr Cameron's junior coalition partners, the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and opposition leader Ed Miliband, who both oppose calls for a referendum and who have warned that Conservative calls for a root-and-branch renegotiation will alienate EU leaders, will hold separate meetings with Mrs Merkel.
The German chancellor will round off the day by having tea at Buckingham Palace.
Germany's Angela Merkel addressing UK Parliament
LIVE: Angela Merkel speech in UK parliament
German
Chancellor Angela Merkel has hailed Germany's "close partnership" with
the UK in an historic address to both Houses of Parliament.
But she said those hoping for her to back EU treaty reform - or the opposite - would be "in for a disappointment".She began her remarks in English before delivering the main part of her speech in German.
David Cameron is pulling out all the stops as he sees the German leader as crucial to his aims in Europe.
The speech was anticipated by all sides of the UK EU debate
The Guardian reported on Wednesday that Berlin was prepared to offer "limited opt-outs" to the UK over its future compliance with existing EU directives and to make sure some other regulations were more flexibly enforced.
UK PM David Cameron, right, awaits the speech with opposition leader Ed Miliband, left, and deputy PM Nick Clegg, centre.
But the BBC's Berlin Correspondent Stephen Evans said sources close to Mrs Merkel were playing down expectations of new proposals for the kind of changes British Conservatives wanted to see.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
She may well agree to concessions to Britain - but not immediately”
One Merkel adviser said: "Those expecting a thunderbolt in the speech will be disappointed."
Instead, Mrs Merkel will offer warm words about Britain and
her desire to keep the country in the EU. But, says Evans, people close
to the German leader are also expressing dismay that, as they see it,
the British government has not come to them to spell out what changes it
wants. Although not an official state visit - Mrs Merkel is not head of state - the trip has been planned for months, with both governments aware of its political significance at a time of looming change in Europe.
Mrs Merkel is expected to speak for half an hour, in German, in front of an invited audience of dignitaries in the Palace of Westminster, including MPs, peers, diplomats, business and cultural leaders.
Mrs Merkel's predecessor, Willy Brandt, addressed both chambers in 1970.
'Not a priority' After Thursday's address, Chancellor Merkel will meet a delegation of MPs and peers before having a working lunch with the prime minister at Downing Street.
The two centre-right leaders, both of whom govern in a coalition with other parties, will hold a press conference in which Mrs Merkel is likely to be pressed on whether she will support the UK's call for future treaty change in the EU.
David Cameron has said that if the Conservatives win the 2015 election, he will seek to renegotiate the terms of the UK's membership of the European Union and put the outcome to an in-out referendum of the British people in 2017.
But he faces a battle to convince leaders of other EU member states to agree to the treaty changes he will need, with French President Francois Hollande recently telling the prime minister, on a one-day visit to the UK, that it was "not a priority".
Mr Cameron is seen as having a warmer relationship with Mrs Merkel than Mr Hollande, although Berlin was angered by his decision to veto a fiscal compact in December 2011 in response to the eurozone debt crisis.
The prime minister and his wife Samantha visited the German chancellor's country residence last April, following a visit made by Mrs Merkel and her husband to Chequers in 2010.
The leader of Mr Cameron's junior coalition partners, the Lib Dem Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and opposition leader Ed Miliband, who both oppose calls for a referendum and who have warned that Conservative calls for a root-and-branch renegotiation will alienate EU leaders, will hold separate meetings with Mrs Merkel.
The German chancellor will round off the day by having tea at Buckingham Palace.
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