BERLIN, Nov 2 (Reuters) – Chinese and Russian firms are the most likely to pay bribes while operating abroad, and the most corrupt sectors are public works contracts and construction, according to Transparency International’s latest “Bribe Payers’ index”.

China and Russia rank bottom, in 27th and 28th place respectively, in the 2011 index released on Wednesday, while the Dutch, Swiss, Belgians, Germans and Japanese get the top scores. Britain and the United States rank eighth and ninth.

But the Berlin-based anti-corruption campaigners said not one of the 28 countries surveyed — which include all of the G20 – was perceived as “wholly clean of bribery” and few had made a major improvement since the last bribery index in 2008.

“India’s score improved the most, with an increase of 0.7, but it still remains near the bottom of the table. Canada and the United Kingdom saw the most significant deterioration in their scores with a drop of -0.3,” read the report.

The group asked 3,016 business executives in 30 countries – selected by the value of their foreign direct investments and exports, plus their regional significance — how often companies based in countries in the survey engaged in bribery.

Transparency urged countries to ratify conventions against bribery under the auspices of the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development and the European Union.

“In their meeting in Cannes this week, G20 governments must tackle foreign bribery as a matter of urgency,” said Huguette Labelle of Transparency International in a statement.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germans expressed fury and frustration on Tuesday at the Greek prime minister’s shock decision to call a referendum on a new financial rescue package, political leaders saying it could plunge Greece into bankruptcy and force it out of the euro zone.

George Papandreou stunned his own people and his European colleagues with the announcement on Monday evening, only days after European leaders had agreed the outlines of a second bailout for Athens at marathon summit talks in Brussels.

The move hammered markets and prompted leaders of the big euro zone countries to hastily arrange a crisis meeting with Papandreou on Wednesday in Cannes, a day before the start of a G20 summit.

“Everyone is asking why Papandreou is doing this? Why now? Is he messing with us?” the top-selling tabloid Bild said on its website.

Michael Roth, Europe spokesman for the opposition Social Democrats (SPD), told Reuters the referendum call showed courage but said Papandreou was “playing with fire.”

“If the Greeks are not ready to support Papandreou’s reforms, Greece faces an uncertain future in Europe,” he said.

Greece has been hit by a wave of anti-austerity strikes and Papandreou has suffered defections by lawmakers in his Socialist party. He said he needed wider political backing for deep spending cuts tied to the new 130 billion euro aid deal.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said he was confident Germany’s centre-right coalition would pass proposals on how to leverage the euro zone rescue fund with its own parliamentary majority, in a Bundestag vote on Wednesday.

Roesler also said in an interview with Reuters that excluding member states who bust euro zone budget rules was not currently under consideration and the goal was to keep all euro zone members within the single currency bloc.

German lawmakers will hold a vote on Wednesday to give Chancellor Angela Merkel a mandate just before she leaves for the euro zone summit. She needs their support to agree on strategies to counter the debt crisis with other European leaders in Brussels.

Roesler, who is also German Vice Chancellor and leader of the junior coalition partner Free Democrats (FDP), said the two models for leveraging the rescue fund — a debt insurance model and a special purpose investment vehicle (SPIV) model — both fulfilled his party’s criteria.

“The FDP always had two conditions — there must be no banking licence and Germany’s liability must not exceed 211 billion euros (183 billion pounds). These conditions have been met up to now.”

“Lawmakers are evaluating the details of the leveraging now… it will depend on the exact details.”

Roesler’s ministry last week almost halved its 2012 growth forecast to 1 percent from a previous 1.8 percent.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German lawmakers flexed their muscles to secure a full parliamentary vote Wednesday on euro zone crisis measures negotiated by Chancellor Angela Merkel and her euro zone peers, a move senior politicians said would give Merkel a stronger mandate.

The new vote comes just one month after Germany’s Bundestag (lower of house of parliament) approved greater powers for the euro zone rescue fund, and should pass without problems, but it risks delaying Europe’s response to the debt crisis at a crucial juncture.

Merkel cannot agree to changes to the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) without approval at least from the Bundestag’s budget committee, as a result of a constitutional court decision last month.

However, Merkel’s Christian Democrats’ (CDU) floor leader Volker Kauder demanded a full debate and vote by the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) rather than just a vote by the 41-member budget committee, which might have been quicker and less risky while still meeting new rules on consulting MPs.

“On such important questions it’s good if parliament gives the chancellor broad backing for her negotiations,” said Kauder regarding the vote due early Wednesday, before Merkel returns to Brussels for a second, decisive euro summit.

Major opposition parties the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens welcomed the vote, and indicated they would back proposals aimed at countering the debt crisis. But they stopped short of confirming they would vote “yes,” saying they needed to see documents detailing the proposals first.

With criticism ringing in Germany’s ears from the head of the Eurogroup of single currency members, Jean-Claude Juncker, about it being slow to make decisions, Merkel met the heads of the main parties to seek consensus.

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s supporters hailed her success in getting France to drop demands to use the European Central Bank to leverage euro crisis funds this weekend, as she began work convincing Germany’s parliament to back her in Wednesday’s second summit.

“Merkel’s Battle for our Euro,” was Monday’s headline in the mass-circulation conservative paper Bild, praising her for teaching French President Nicolas Sarkozy “that the EFSF rescue fund cannot be used to print money” to resolve the debt crisis.

“The chancellor must stick to her guns — in the interests of Germany and of Europe,” said the newspaper.

The chancellor summoned parliamentary leaders of government and opposition parties to brief them on the weekend’s tentative agreements and seek the support of MPs, who were given a bigger say in the euro zone debt crisis by Germany’s top court.

As a result of a constitutional court decision last month, Merkel cannot agree to changes to the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) without the agreement of the Bundestag’s (lower house of parliament) budget committee, which is scheduled to meet late on Tuesday.

She will then address parliament on Wednesday before going back to Brussels for what should be a more decisive second summit on how to boost the firepower of the EFSF, raise the contribution of private banks to Greece’s rescue, and get European banks to increase their own capital to prevent contagion.

Her conservative bloc’s chief whip, Peter Altmaier, said Sunday’s summit “made headway” on all three issues, including “using the EFSF to avoid having to print money,” and it should now be possible to produce the “comprehensive” crisis response that Merkel and Sarkozy have promised by the end of this month.

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.

But the leaders of the 17-nation single currency zone will have to meet again on Wednesday to give the German chancellor time to get a mandate from the Bundestag’s (lower house of parliament) budget committee for any proposals from Brussels.

This bears out fears that a September ruling by Germany’s constitutional court giving parliament more say in how Germany responds to the crisis would slow down the 17-nation currency zone’s reactions by forcing Merkel to consult MPs.

Merkel’s spokesman said there had to be two summits because there had not been time for the Bundestag committee to study proposals in detail — and in German — before Sunday, when the leaders of all 27 European Union members, then those of the euro zone, meet in Brussels at a crucial time in the crisis.

The “Troika” report on Greek debt sustainability by inspectors from Europe and the International Monetary Fund, which will help determine the scale of a write-down on Greek debt, has not yet been presented.

“Decisions could not be made on Sunday because without a discussion and approval by the budget committee, the chancellor would have had to travel to Brussels without a mandate on these issues,” said spokesman Steffen Seibert.

ATHENS/BERLIN (Reuters) – Greece said it concluded talks with international lenders over a vital aid payment on Monday after Germany and France gave investors hope by promising a plan to recapitalize Europe’s banks soon.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy gave no details of their proposals, to be delivered by the end of the month, but said they would also cover closer euro zone integration and steps to tackle Greece’s debt mountain and prevent financial market contagion.

“The German and French governments are convinced this will be a contribution to the euro zone winning back confidence and its capacity to act — and I do mean a contribution, not the ‘miracle cure’ everyone keeps asking for,” German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

The next regular summit of EU leaders was postponed by six days to October 23 to allow time “to finalize our comprehensive strategy on the euro area sovereign debt crisis”, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy announced.

“Further elements are needed to address the situation in Greece, the bank recapitalization and the enhanced efficiency of stabilization tools (EFSF),” he said in a statement.

The euro and world stocks rose on hopes raised by Sunday’s Berlin Merkel-Sarkozy meeting of progress in tackling the crisis that began in Greece two years ago and now threatens the stability of the global economy.

However investors remain cautious due to the lack of detail about the Franco-German plan, and the risk that any solution may be derailed by an event such as political deadlock in Slovakia over approving new powers for the euro zone’s rescue fund.

BERLIN (Reuters) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted on Friday the euro zone rescue fund should only be used to prop up banks as a last resort, ahead of a weekend meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy at which they are expected to thrash out how to strengthen the region’s banks.

The 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) has been redesigned to help banks and buy up government bonds in an effort to beef up Europe’s crisis fighting response.

Merkel told reporters after talks with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte that they had both agreed that, if recapitalization were needed as now looks likely, this should be done according to a “hierarchy” of methods for raising the capital.

“The banks must first try to raise the capital themselves, if that doesn’t work then the member state should come up with instruments as we did in 2008-2009, and only then when the country cannot cope on its own can the facility — the EFSF — be used,” Merkel said.

Receiving such aid from the EFSF would involve the country in question agreeing to conditions including a program for structural reform, Merkel added.

“This will definitely be discussed at the next summit,” said Merkel.

She stressed that the “philosophy” behind the EFSF — which European leaders granted extra funding and powers to buy bonds and help banks in July — was to stress both solidarity with struggling euro states but also the “willingness to reform of states that receive aid.”

BERLIN, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Following a now-familiar script, Europe again averted disaster in its debt crisis when German deputies rallied behind Chancellor Angela Merkel to approve a stronger euro zone bailout fund on Thursday.

But bigger challenges lie ahead for the euro zone and markets are already demanding more far-reaching measures to prevent a crisis that began in Greece from spreading far beyond Europe and its banks.

The Bundestag (lower house) overwhelmingly approved new powers for the 440-billion-euro EFSF fund to make precautionary loans, help recapitalise banks and buy distressed countries’ bonds in the secondary market.

Despite a rebellion by 15 backbench Eurosceptics, Merkel won 315 votes from her own conservative-liberal coalition, enough to avoid the humiliation of having to rely on opposition Social Democrats and Greens to pass the plan.

“The result of the vote is a strong signal for Europe. The broad majority in parliament clearly shows that Germany is committed to the euro and to protecting our currency,” said Hermann Groehe, general secretary of her Christian Democratic party.

The measure was part of a July 21 agreement by euro zone leaders meant to solve the crisis by providing a second bailout for debt-stricken Greece, partly funded by private sector bondholders, and providing more firepower to prevent contagion engulfing bigger EU economies Spain and Italy.

But that deal failed to stop Italian and Spanish borrowing costs soaring, forcing the European Central Bank to intervene in August to buy their bonds, and may yet unravel in Greece, which has fallen behind again on its deficit reduction targets, pushing it closer to default.

BERLIN, Sept 29 (Reuters) – Angela Merkel won her toughest challenge yet as German chancellor by pushing through changes to a rescue fund for the euro zone debt crisis on Thursday without the humiliation of relying on opposition support.

Germany’s approval of the beefed-up bailout fund with much stronger support than expected in the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) provoked a sigh of relief in markets worried about Berlin’s commitment to resolving the debt crisis.

“This is a strong statement of support for Angela Merkel. It is an excellent day,” said her parliamentary leader Peter Altmaier. He had been in charge of persuading rebels MPs who worried about throwing good money after bad with successive bailouts of Greece and other highly-indebted states.

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

After some intensive arm-twisting among the ranks of Merkel’s centre-right coalition, 315 coalition lawmakers voted in favour — just over the 311 Merkel needed to show she can pass crucial euro zone policy without opposition help.

“For Merkel this is without doubt a great success and it will be a great relief for her party,” political scientist and Merkel biographer Gerd Langguth said.

Relying on the pro-euro Social Democrats (SPD) and Greens would have seriously undermined Merkel’s authority and ability to pilot fresh measures to combat the euro crisis.