The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
Merkel, Hollande pledge to find common ground on European growth
French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel held the first of many meetings yesterday, discussing proposals for augmenting austerity with stimulus measures.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President François Hollande speak after their joint news conference in the Chancellery in Berlin, May 15.
(Guido Bergmann/Bundesregierung/Reuters)
By Stephen Brown, Reuters, Noah Barkin, Reuters
posted May 16, 2012 at 10:32 am EDT
Berlin
New French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences on Tuesday over how to boost growth in recession-plagued Europe, but pledged to forge a joint approach in time for a European Union summit next month.
The Socialist Mr. Hollande jetted to Berlin only hours after being sworn in to meet Ms. Merkel, a conservative, for the first time, arriving over an hour late after his plane was hit by lightning and he was forced to return briefly to Paris.
The meeting was being closely watched for signs the leaders of Europe's biggest economies will be able to move beyond a war of words over how to resolve the debt crisis that now threatens to tear apart the 13-year-old currency bloc.
Hollande sharply criticized Merkel during his election campaign for insisting on tough austerity to bring down suffocating debt levels across the euro zone. She in turn had backed Hollande's rival, conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
Supported by others in southern Europe, Hollande has vowed to shift the focus to growth and reopen a tough new set of budget rules that Merkel and other EU leaders agreed to adopt earlier this year – a step considered taboo in Berlin.
"I said it during my election campaign and I say it again now as president that I want to renegotiate what has been agreed to include a growth dimension," Hollande told a joint news conference with Merkel at the Chancellery in the German capital.
Merkel's five-year double act with Mr. Sarkozy earned the duo the moniker "Merkozy" for their close cooperation during Europe's debt crisis. The new Franco-German couple – referred to by some as "Merkollande" – took care to play down their differences on Tuesday, hoping to send a signal of unity at a time when speculation is growing that Greece may have to exit the euro zone and return to the drachma.
"Growth has to feed through to the people. And that's why I'm happy that we'll discuss different ideas on how to achieve growth," Merkel said.
They said the goal was to present joint proposals at a European Union summit in late June.
GROWTH PACT
Instead of reopening Merkel's "fiscal compact," they are expected to complement it with a new "growth pact."
Berlin has already signaled it is open to several ideas favored by Hollande, including more flexible use of EU structural aid, a bigger role for the European Investment Bank, and the introduction of "project bonds" to foster investments in infrastructure like transportation and energy networks.
But most economists agree that these steps will make little difference to countries like Greece, which is in its fifth year of recession and has seen unemployment surge to 22 percent.
That means Germany is likely to come under pressure to take additional steps, like giving struggling euro countries more time to reduce their deficits, a step it has so far resisted for fear of spooking jittery financial markets.
Although the reserved Merkel learned over time to work with the impulsive Sarkozy, her advisers often complained about his erratic behaviour and some believe she will ultimately form a closer bond with the more outwardly cautious Hollande
....
Hollande finds himself in the hot seat from day one. Earlier on Tuesday, Greece abandoned a nine-day hunt for a government and called a new election that could hand victory next month to leftists opposed to the terms of the country's EU/IMF bailout.
.A growing number of policymakers in Europe have warned over the past week that if Greece does not stick to the budget cuts and structural reforms agreed with its international lenders, it may have no future in the currency bloc.
Both Merkel and Hollande said they wanted Athens to remain a part of the euro project and stood ready to explore ways to support the Greek economy so it could return to growth: "Like Mrs. Merkel, I want Greece to remain in the euro zone," Hollande said.
第二篇相關歐洲變化：
Spain mired in bond, banking crises, recession –Courtesy of The China Post
MADRID/MANCHESTER/ATHENS -- Spain's borrowing costs shot up at a bond auction on Thursday, after economic data confirmed the country is back in recession and reports of an outflow of deposits from nationalized Bankia hammered its share price.
Official data confirmed the Spanish economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, putting it back into recession and facing a prolonged downturn as the government cuts spending in an attempt to wrestle down its budget deficit.
The Spanish Treasury had to pay around 5 percent to attract buyers of three- and four-year bonds. The longer-dated paper sold with a yield of 5.106 percent, way above the 3.374 percent the last time it was auctioned.
Cameron Criticizes EU
Top European Union leaders were to hold a videoconference later in the day.
They were initially to discuss an upcoming G-8 meeting of industrialized countries but were now faced with a serious deterioration of the situations in Greece and elsewhere across the eurozone.
British Prime Minister David Cameron urged Europe's rulers on Thursday to do more to quell the eurozone debt crisis and raised the prospect of a Greek default to argue he must stick to his unpopular attempt to cut spending and reduce debt at home.
Spain Denies Funds Exit, but Shares Drop
El Mundo newspaper reported that customers at troubled Bankia SA had taken out more than 1 billion euros (US$1.3 billion), equivalent to around 1 percent of the lender's retail and corporate deposits, over the past week.
The government denied there had been an exit of funds, but the bank's shares dropped more than 20 percent at one stage, extending the previous session's loss after it delayed publishing fourth-quarter results.
Greece Forms Interim Technocrat Cabinet
A caretaker technocrat government took office in Greece on Thursday to organize the cash-strappedcountry's second elections in just six weeks after an inconclusive May 6 vote jolted the eurozone.
State Asset Sales Suspended
In a sign of the growing paralysis, the Greek agency overseeing state asset sales — another condition for international funds — on Wednesday suspended its operations until a fully fledged government is in place.
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