BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – In the lush gardens of the Elysee Palace in Paris, the seeds of a new Europe may have taken root. It was there, hidden away from EU summits and photocalls, that French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel began to forge a closer relationship than many expected.

On June 27, the two leaders met privately in Paris and, after weeks of public tension preceding Hollande’s May 6 election, had a lengthy one-on-one discussion, French officials said.

BERLIN/PARIS (Reuters) – In the lush gardens of the Elysee Palace in Paris, the seeds of a new Europe may have taken root. It was there, hidden away from EU summits and photocalls, that French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel began to forge a closer relationship than many expected.

On June 27, the two leaders met privately in Paris and, after weeks of public tension preceding Hollande’s May 6 election, had a lengthy one-on-one discussion, French officials said.

BERLIN (Reuters) – At first glance, the big winners from Europe’s latest euro-saving summit were the leaders of Italy, Spain and France.

By banding together in a powerful coalition to challenge Germany, the high-stakes meeting seemed to show, Mario Monti, Mariano Rajoy and Francois Hollande were able to wring major crisis-fighting concessions from a suddenly soft Angela Merkel.

BERLIN, June 29 (Reuters) – Germany’s parliament will
finally approve a permanent euro zone bailout scheme and new
budget rules on Friday drawn up by Angela Merkel, but legal
hurdles remain and her overnight concessions to euro zone
partners Italy and Spain may make them harder to overcome.

A deal with the opposition should give the chancellor,
hurrying back from a tense European Union summit, the required
two-thirds majority in the Bundestag (lower house) and Bundesrat
(upper house) votes beginning at 5 p.m. (1500 GMT).