BERLIN: Chancellor Angela Merkel Monday stressed her determination to ratify the EU's bailout fund and fiscal pact before the German parliament's summer break amid reports she was prepared to add growth measures to the text.
A statement released after a meeting of the three party leaders in Germany's fractious ruling coalition said they "reiterated their intention to ratify the ESM and the fiscal pact before the summer break and so to offer a sign of stability."
"The leaders of the coalition parties support the federal government's policy to overcome the European debt crisis.
They emphasise that all instruments stand ready to secure eurozone banks," the statement added.
The meeting was called to iron out several internal rifts in Merkel's government, including disputes over nursery places, Germany's shift away from nuclear power and a proposed road toll.
Merkel needs the support of the opposition centre-left Social Democrats to ratify the fiscal pact in the Bundestag lower house of parliament as a two-thirds majority is required to pass the law.
The parliament's summer break was due to begin on July 6. Designed as a successor to the European Union's current bailout fund, the EFSF, the ESM has funds of 500 billion euros ($624 billion) to help struggling countries deal with the eurozone debt crisis.
The fiscal pact, pushed through by Merkel, is a new EU treaty designed to toughen budgetary discipline along German lines. It has been signed by all EU countries except Britain and the Czech Republic.
The SPD has called for various output-stimulating measures to be added to the text of the fiscal pact to shift Europe's crisis-fighting efforts from austerity to growth.
And business daily Handelsblatt reported in its Tuesday edition that Merkel had made concessions to the SPD on several fronts, including on a mooted financial transaction tax opposed by her junior coalition partner.
indiatimes.com
A statement released after a meeting of the three party leaders in Germany's fractious ruling coalition said they "reiterated their intention to ratify the ESM and the fiscal pact before the summer break and so to offer a sign of stability."
"The leaders of the coalition parties support the federal government's policy to overcome the European debt crisis.
They emphasise that all instruments stand ready to secure eurozone banks," the statement added.
The meeting was called to iron out several internal rifts in Merkel's government, including disputes over nursery places, Germany's shift away from nuclear power and a proposed road toll.
Merkel needs the support of the opposition centre-left Social Democrats to ratify the fiscal pact in the Bundestag lower house of parliament as a two-thirds majority is required to pass the law.
The parliament's summer break was due to begin on July 6. Designed as a successor to the European Union's current bailout fund, the EFSF, the ESM has funds of 500 billion euros ($624 billion) to help struggling countries deal with the eurozone debt crisis.
The fiscal pact, pushed through by Merkel, is a new EU treaty designed to toughen budgetary discipline along German lines. It has been signed by all EU countries except Britain and the Czech Republic.
The SPD has called for various output-stimulating measures to be added to the text of the fiscal pact to shift Europe's crisis-fighting efforts from austerity to growth.
And business daily Handelsblatt reported in its Tuesday edition that Merkel had made concessions to the SPD on several fronts, including on a mooted financial transaction tax opposed by her junior coalition partner.
indiatimes.com
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