BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday European leaders should agree on what would amount to a 50 percent write down of Greek debt from the private sector at a summit to tackle the euro zone debt crisis later.

Addressing the German parliament shortly before a vote on boosting the firepower of the euro zone rescue fund that is set to strengthen Merkel’s negotiating hand at the euro zone talks, the chancellor vowed to push for workable, long-term solutions.

BRUSSELS/BERLIN (Reuters) – France’s push to use more European Central Bank money to fight the euro zone debt crisis has run into strong resistance from Germany and other EU partners, leaving Paris increasingly isolated before a crucial summit.

The rift between Europe’s two biggest powers has already forced leaders to tack on an extra summit in the coming week. They will now meet twice — on Sunday and Wednesday — to try to adopt a comprehensive strategy to fight the crisis that began in Greece, spread to Ireland and Portugal and is now threatening to engulf bigger economies in the 17-nation currency area.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s new legal requirement to consult parliament on changes to euro zone bailout funds and the lack of detailed proposals to show lawmakers was behind a decision to split a European crisis summit in two, an aide said on Friday.

Against a backdrop of reports that Germany and France are at loggerheads on how to deliver on their promise of a solution to the crisis by month-end, European leaders will meet on Sunday to discuss a Greek debt write-down and bank recapitalization.

BERLIN, Oct 18 (Reuters) – In 1849, patience with heavily
indebted Greece began to run thin in the southern German Kingdom
of Bavaria.

“You will certainly not want me to lose the larger part of
my own capital because of having saved Greece,” King Ludwig
wrote in April that year to his son Otto, the Bavarian prince
who became the unlikely first monarch of Greece.

BERLIN, Oct 14 (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel
hit back at critics of her euro zone policy on Friday, saying it
was unacceptable for them to demand bolder action to combat the
debt crisis while at the same time resisting steps to rein in
financial markets.

Merkel told a conference organised by German union IG Metall
in the southern city of Karlsruhe that Group of 20 nations had
failed to deliver on their promise to leave no financial
product, actor or market unregulated.

FRANKFURT/BERLIN, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Deutsche Bank would need 9 billion euros ($12.4 billion) in fresh
equity if new EU stress tests imposed a 9 percent core tier 1
capital ratio, two people with direct knowledge of the bank’s
finances said on Thursday.

The bank would pass the latest European Banking Authority
test if a 7 percent ratio were to be required, the sources told
Reuters.

NUREMBERG, Germany (Reuters) – Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative ruling partners from southern Germany slammed Greece on Saturday for “cheating” its way into the euro zone, but stopped short of voting in a leading eurosceptic as the deputy party leader.

Instead, delegates of the Christian Social Union (CSU) chose to keep a loyal minister in Merkel’s cabinet as one of their four deputy leaders. In doing so, they narrowly rejected a high profile rebel who has repeatedly challenged euro zone bailouts and tried to become a champion for frustrated Germans.

BERLIN, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Debt-strapped Greece aims to lure
German renewable energy firms with the certainty that no matter
how much its economy shrinks, the Greek sun will keep on
shining, and households and industry will keep producing waste.

German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler visits the country
on Thursday with 60 industry officials in tow to look at
opportunities for foreign direct investment, and how German
know-how can help lift the Greek economy from its knees.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Greece will meet its commitments to international lenders, Prime Minister George Papandreou told German industry leaders on Tuesday, appealing to his European partners to help him tackle the country’s debt crisis.

Papandreou, who must implement reforms to receive further aid, will meet Chancellor Angela Merkel to discuss the euro zone debt crisis, two days before a parliamentary vote in Berlin on an expanded bailout fund to prop up weaker members in the bloc.

BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – Talk of beefing up the euro zone’s bailout fund lifted stocks on Tuesday but complicated the debate in Germany where Angela Merkel is struggling to rally her coalition behind her in aiding Europe’s weak economies and banks.

European shares rallied for a second day and safe-haven German bonds fell on reports that European policymakers were preparing more decisive action to tackle the bloc’s sovereign debt crisis by leveraging up the 440 billion euro rescue pot.