BERLIN, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Germany’s parliament approved
new powers for the euro zone’s crisis fund on Thursday but it
was not clear if Angela Merkel got enough votes from her
coalition to silence rebels worried about funding a series of
bailouts of countries like Greece.

Support from the opposition meant there had been no doubt
Germany would okay new powers for the European Financial
Stability Facility (EFSF), which some countries like Finland
have ratified but others, including Slovakia, are disputing.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s parliament approved new powers for the euro zone’s crisis fund on Thursday but it was not clear if Angela Merkel got enough votes from her coalition to silence rebels worried about funding a series of bailouts of countries like Greece.

Support from the opposition meant there had been no doubt Germany would okay new powers for the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF), which some countries like Finland have ratified but others, including Slovakia, are disputing.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel worked to defuse revolt within her government on Wednesday, soothing fears Germany may be throwing good money after bad in Greece but acknowledging the concerns of those ready to humiliate her in a parliamentary vote.

“We are trying to avoid a Greek insolvency. But I cannot rule it out,” the famously cautious chancellor was quoted by Bild newspaper as telling her coalition — assuring them that voting a new EU bailout for Athens would not be wasted, but accepting too that German taxpayers’ money might be written off.

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 (Reuters) – By picking a fight with Angela Merkel over the euro zone crisis to boost their popularity, Germany’s Free Democrats (FDP) have deepened rifts in her coalition, hurt the chancellor’s authority and emboldened rebels before a crucial vote on the bailout fund.

The infighting could even undermine Merkel’s standing abroad at a time when the 17-member currency bloc is looking to Europe’s biggest economy for leadership in the debt crisis.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Senior politicians in German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s center-right coalition have started talking openly about a Greek default, reflecting mounting concern in Europe’s biggest economy about the debt crisis and pressuring Greece.

“To stabilize the euro, there can no longer be any taboos,” Philipp Roesler, economy minister and leader of Merkel’s junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats (FDP), told Die Welt.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans expressed shock and dread about the direction of euro zone policy on Saturday after their top official at the European Central Bank resigned in a conflict over the bank’s response to the debt crisis.

The resignation of ECB chief economist Juergen Stark, a member of Angela Merkel’s conservatives, is also a major blow to the Chancellor who has been deserted by several top allies and this month faces a vote on expanding the euro zone bailout fund which could even cost her job.

BERLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Germans expressed shock and
dread about the direction of euro zone policy on Saturday after
their top official at the European Central Bank resigned in a
conflict over the bank’s response to the debt crisis.

The resignation of ECB chief economist Juergen Stark, a
member of Angela Merkel’s conservatives, is also a major blow to
the Chancellor who has been deserted by several top allies and
this month faces a vote on expanding the euro zone bailout fund
which could even cost her job.

BERLIN, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Germans expressed shock and fear
about the direction of euro zone policy on Saturday after their
top official at the European Central Bank resigned over a
conflict over the bank’s response to the debt crisis.

The resignation of ECB chief economist Juergen Stark, a
member of Angela Merkel’s conservatives, is also a major blow to
the Chancellor who has been deserted by several top allies and
this month faces a vote on expanding the euro zone bailout fund
which could even cost her job.

BERLIN, Sept 8 (Reuters) – Anger at Greece’s failure to meet
fiscal targets that are a condition for its international
bailout is nearing breaking point in Berlin and other European
capitals, with senior politicians now talking openly about the
possibility of Athens exiting the euro zone.

Horst Seehofer, the head of the Bavarian Christian Social
Union (CSU), was the first prominent figure in Germany to
suggest publicly that Greece might eventually be forced to leave
the 17-nation single currency bloc in an interview in the Bild
newspaper on Wednesday.