BERLIN/DAVOS, Jan 28 (Reuters) – Europe signalled increased
urgency on the eurozone crisis on Friday with the possibility of
a special summit sooner than expected, while Germany aired the
reforms it might want in exchange for more emergency support.

With German opposition to increasing the euro bailout fund
appearing to soften, euro zone sources said the European Union
was considering extending bailout loans to Greece and Ireland to
30 years in a bid to draw a line under the bloc’s debt crisis.

BERLIN, Jan 28 (Reuters) – A German discussion paper from
Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office proposes a euro zone pact to
improve competitiveness by targeting European states’ wage
costs, public finances and corporate taxation.

The paper, seen by Reuters on Friday, says the most urgent
measures should be agreed in a package to be implemented within
a year and the pact could be enforced by financial sanctions.
Non euro zone members could be invited to join in, it said.

BERLIN, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The members of the euro zone
must act quickly to establish an economic government in the
bloc, one that must be accessible to other European Union
nations, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on
Wednesday.

The veteran conservative politician, in a speech at
Berlin’s Humboldt University, also said he believed the EU
would emerge stronger than ever from the financial crisis and
said he did not believe the euro was in danger.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany said on Wednesday a euro zone nation can “in principle” become insolvent, but reassured its own taxpayers they would not end up footing the bill for any rescue package against the will of the German people.

With the crisis in the 16-nation currency bloc deeping after the Irish bailout on fears that euro-zone member states might be forced to default on their debt, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said Portugal and Spain were not going to need help.

12 (Reuters) – Leaders from Britain, Germany and
France held emergency talks at the Group of 20 leaders meeting
after panic selling of Irish debt that has put its bond spreads
out to a record over Germany, infecting Spain and Portugal.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble castigated
investors who fear that Ireland may become the first euro zone
country to default, saying they had failed to understand European
Union support mechanisms that a country could call on.

GYEONGJU, South Korea (Reuters) – The United States sought to corral reluctant finance leaders into a deal that would commit emerging markets to cut their current account surpluses and allow their currencies to rise at a meeting on Friday.

G20 finance officials started their formal meetings on Friday with nations from the developing world and Japan dismissing the U.S. proposals which it says are aimed at defusing tensions that economists fear could trigger trade wars.

GYEONGJU, South Korea, Oct 22 (Reuters) – The United States
sought to corral reluctant finance leaders into a deal that
would commit emerging markets to cut their current account
surpluses and allow their currencies to rise at a meeting on
Friday.

G20 finance officials started their formal meetings on
Friday with nations from the developing world and Japan
dismissing the U.S. proposals which it says are aimed at
defusing tensions that economists fear could trigger trade
wars.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Global finance chiefs sought on Friday to prevent rising tensions over currency valuations from derailing a fragile economic recovery, as policy makers stressed they must work together to find ways to rebalance global growth.

Ministers from the Group of 20 nations repeated a call for export powerhouses, such as China, to spend more at home so indebted countries, like the United States, can rebuild their finances without risking a still-fragile global recovery.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Policymakers have not gone far enough in tightening regulation of markets to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, former German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck told Reuters in an interview.

Steinbrueck, who was finance minister at the height of the financial crisis, welcomed new bank capital requirements in the Basel III reforms as well as improved supervision in Europe and the landmark U.S. financial reform law.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Policymakers have not gone far enough in tightening regulation of markets to prevent a repeat of the financial crisis, former German finance minister Peer Steinbrueck told Reuters in an interview.

Steinbrueck, who was finance minister at the height of the financial crisis, welcomed new bank capital requirements in the Basel III reforms as well as improved supervision in Europe and the landmark U.S. financial reform law.