German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron's speech on European Union reform, which contained "a lot of material" for necessary debate on the issue, her spokesman said.

Germany shares Macron's view that the EU needs reforms. The details of reforms must be discussed, added the spokesman, Steffen Seibert.

"This discussion is necessary and sensible," Seibert told a regular government news conference in Berlin, adding that the leaders would have a chance to talk at an EU meeting in Tallinn on Thursday.