merkel

For the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, creating a club-within-a-club is the only means of imposing discipline on wayward members.

But a senior German official dismissed the proposal as a "typical Brussels box of tricks" that would not pass muster with Merkel.

Merkel said the solution to the current crisis was in closer economic cooperation in Europe and especially in the euro zone.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the resignation was unexpected, as Oana Lungescu now reports from Berlin.

Ms Merkel wants to embrace the FDP without appearing to embrace its ideology (as she did as a candidate in 2005 and nearly lost).

Mr von Beust is the sixth state premier from Mrs Merkel's Christian Democratic Union to step down in less than a year.

Mrs Merkel speaks often of the need to save the euro, but she acts as if there were no imminent danger.

Ms. Merkel backed down on June 17, agreeing to ask bondholders only for a 'voluntary' contribution to the rescue of Greece.

In any case, Mrs Merkel has made it clear that she has no intention of linking the EFSF to a vote of confidence.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Stark stood for a "culture of stability" in the euro zone to which her government strongly adhered.

Fifth, it is often said Ms Merkel fails to realise that saving the euro is profoundly in Germany's own interests.

He is said to be one of the few non-German policymakers to have had influence over Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor.

There's been a setback for the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in regional elections a month before voters choose a new federal parliament.

German chancellor Angela Merkel and often-outspoken President Nicolas Sarkozy of France did not reveal a preference before the meeting.

It is the latest of the party's beliefs to be junked by Angela Merkel, as she tries to steal opposition ideas before the next election.

This week's declaration from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, was an unpromising start.

In her memoirs, Mrs Merkel might well say that Mr Cameron was to blame if it came to this.

Mrs Merkel is clever enough to realise this and dislike it, but she has not been brave enough to stop it.

Whenever the question of bailouts is mentioned, Merkel acts out a pantomime of reluctance to dish out more cash.

It was just the sort of photo-op German Chancellor Angela Merkel urgently needs.

He said the presence of Merkel and Hollande at the ceremony made "this day very particular, symbolic for all of us. "

By the time he sat down, Ms. Merkel told him his team was behind by two goals.

Yet Mrs Merkel faces mounting opposition at home from those who think she has been too ready to help the likes of Greece and Portugal.

This setback did not, however, dampen Merkel's mood, as she showed when Ireland and Greece sought an easing of their bailout terms.

As someone who grew up in communist East Germany, Ms Merkel has more reason than most to be wary of such an idea.

And when Mr Putin visited Germany in October, Ms Merkel did not hesitate to address the murder of a Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who runs Europe's largest economy, has so far refused to give the green light to any aid package.

On each, Merkel is at odds with Washington (and London), though she prizes a strong alliance with the White House.

He later demanded that Ms. Merkel forbid her underlings from criticizing him, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ms Merkel has never been a particular fan of Wall Street.

Mrs Merkel has no serious rivals within the CDU except Mr Wulff, who will be a failed would-be president if he is not elected.

And yet , Ms Merkel insisted once more that the time had not come to consider another package of growth - boosting measures .

And chancellor Angela Merkel, who was brought up in East Germany, said the night the wall came down was a fulfillment of a dream.

But although all this was troubling, Angela Merkel's attempt to fix it has been spectacularly clumsy.

Merkel acts like she's doing so much. But Germany still builds coal-burning power plants and has no speed limit.

Ms Merkel's contribution was to move swiftly to return the perception to what it had been.

Mrs Merkel departed for Bavaria hoping that the summiteers had done enough to impress the markets and put the euro on a more stable footing.

Mrs Merkel said she had emphasised to Mr Wen Germany's desire to see China introduce greater openness into its economy.

Ms Merkel had the best riposte to S& P. "What a rating agency does is its own responsibility, " she said.

'At the moment, the best way to help is to make it clear that Greece should do its homework, ' Ms. Merkel said.

Germany's Angela Merkel made clear two years ago that, if Russia wanted better relations with the EU, it had to mend fences with Poland.

In a speech to the Bundestag in Berlin, Merkel said the time had come to stop talking about a fiscal union and start creating one.

Brown was no doubt aiming for a casual kiss on Merkel's cheek, but the kiss instead appeared to fall on the German leader's nose.

Mrs Merkel's personal ratings have held up better; voters prefer her to any likely rival as chancellor.

Mr Obama's aides fret that Ms Merkel sometimes prefers the company of China and Russia over that of the US in the UN Security Council.

In a way, the NRW result plays to Mrs Merkel's strengths. The new alignment of the Bundesrat will call on her mediating skills.

Ms Merkel does not want any of these contrasts to become a full-throated war of ideas that she might lose.

The euro is at risk and Europe may be facing its greatest challenge since the founding of the European Union, Merkel said.

The proposals mooted this week by Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy gave little indication that they are ready to do so.

On a chilly October evening in her austere chancellery, Angela Merkel placed a confidential call to Rome to help save the euro.

Mr Sarkozy tends to propose only what he knows Mrs Merkel will accept, such as the idea of a European tax on financial transactions.

In Angela Merkel, Germany also has one of the few EU leaders able to translate national power into international influence.

Final details were expected to be worked out in a meeting Monday of Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeated her belief that Turkey should not be a full member of the European Union.

The U. S. president said he discussed the situation in the Middle East with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

In her Berlin office, an irritated Ms. Merkel saw France's handwriting all over the commission's draft.

Perhaps at their recent get-together in Germany he gave Ms Merkel a hint of a forthcoming climb down.

To this substance Mrs Merkel has added a bit of symbolic spice.

Merkel said S& P's opinions were none of her business, and Economy Minister Philip Roesler said 'we aren't impressed by such threats. '

"I didn't hire him as a research assistant, " said the chancellor, Angela Merkel, herself boasting a PhD (legitimately, it is believed).

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, told German television ZDF that she "regretted" GM's inaction and said a decision was needed urgently.

Mrs Merkel had tried to defend Mr zu Guttenberg, saying that she had hired a minister, "not a research assistant" .

But Angela Merkel, with her quiet steel and very Lutheran common sense, is a leader without whom Europe would be in disarray.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has suffered a humiliating result in a key regional election in the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.

For Margaret Heckel, author of a book about Mrs Merkel, the story shows that "she goes to her limits and then overcomes them. "

Yet Mrs Merkel needs to be mindful of something else as well: that the current rescue plan for the euro is just not working.

Unlike her counterparts in France, Britain and Spain, Mrs Merkel did not feel compelled by crisis at home to cut short her holiday.

Why won't Ms Merkel live up to her promise to do "whatever it takes" to save the euro?

And with growing public pressure, Merkel has also signalled that she would like her ministers to take greater steps to address the issue.

Some business representatives have backed Ms Merkel, while urging her to focus on China's economic governance.

"Germany is a special case, Merkel is in a special position, " he said.

Mrs Merkel wants to introduce reforms, but whether and when she does so will depend on her keen sense of what is politically possible.

Ms Merkel is increasingly seen as a scheming tactician, focusing on her short-term gain, rather than her country's long-term interests.

In a speech, Merkel sharply criticized the recent liquidity policy of the Fed, calling for a return to what she called 'sensibility.

Ms. Merkel responded with a quip of her own: 'And you could look after marketing. '

Merkel was all smiles as she greeted the new president and appeared relaxed throughout.

Ms. Merkel said the path to fiscal union was irrevocable, but that it could take years to overcome the crisis.

Mrs Merkel's allies are not satisfied but, for now at least, are probably stuck with her.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel says her country's attempts to build a multicultural society have, in her words, "utterly failed" .

Chancellor Merkel made the remarks in Washington Tuesday as she addressed a joint meeting of the U. S. Congress.

The president said he reviewed the prospects for peace with Chancellor Merkel.

The executives said the decision about which to adopt was being thrashed out between Mr Sarkozy and Ms Merkel.

Lately the president has found a new European friend in Angela Merkel.

Mrs Merkel wants private investors to contribute to any aid package by agreeing to roll over loans they have made to Greece.

With luck, Mrs Merkel will have two years to persuade voters, also, to see the brighter side of things.

Angela Merkel has good reason to be pleased with the outcome of the meeting of the Group of Eight leading countries she chaired this week.

Yet Mrs Merkel ought to think about why she wants to be chancellor at all.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the same day, the stability of the euro area more important than the fate of Greece.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with a Chinese Catholic bishop in Shanghai on the final day of her visit to China.

"I can guarantee that Greece will live up to all its commitments, " Papandreou said ahead of the evening meeting with Merkel.

"There has been a spectacular conceptual rapprochement between Merkel and Sarkozy, " insists a French official.

The German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it would be good if Colonel Gaddafi gave up power as quickly as possible.

Merkel added that Germany was ready to tighten sanctions on Iran if necessary.

But Chancellor Angela Merkel has been fighting for weeks to quell a rebellion by some of her backbenchers against the EFSF expansion.

Mrs Merkel should stand up to the FDP, demand some colleagues, but must avoid the squishy centrism of the grand coalition.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated that creating such a bond would be no solution to the turmoil.

Fear of Irish voters is one reason why Mrs Merkel agreed to set aside the suspension of voting rights (that would hardly be a small change).

As Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has pointed out, the European sovereign debt crisis poses a threat to the very future of the EU.

Having made a few, Mrs Merkel now seems more comfortable with the switch from a centre-left coalition to a "bourgeois" one.

Yet despite his often strained ties with Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Sarkozy seems to find it hard to resist taunting her.

Angela Merkel said there was no need for a summit right now.

To what must be Merkel's consternation, it now appears that the entire German Bundestag will vote yea or nay on the rescue package.

It was encouraging this week to hear Ms Merkel talk about the competitiveness problems in the weaker eurozone economies.

But a government with liberal leanings is more likely to keep Germany vigorous as it ages, and is what Ms Merkel says she wants.

He just has to call "Madame Europa" , alias Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in Berlin.

Ms Merkel's vagueness seemed clever when the crisis was at its peak and Germans appeared to crave stability above all.

I become nervous when Angela Merkel says the future of the euro and that of the EU are inextricably linked.

Ms Merkel has problems of a different kind, at least superficially.

Mr. Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to downplay the sniping from officials that dominated the run-up to the summit.

Chancellor Angela Merkel, as the main architect of the Lisbon treaty, wants swift approval of a law that does not hamstring the government.

Both President Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, speak of a Europe that "protects" .

Such a partnership would be harder to forge at federal level, but Mrs Merkel might like to have a go.

Health reform is one of the big projects of Germany's coalition government, led by Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Angela Merkel , don't keep staring at the mud on China's shoes, clear up the dirt on the back of your own neck first.

He is an adviser to Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, who has been a powerful force in shaping European policy.

As well as nudging Berlusconi off the stage, Merkel had to smooth out her volatile relationship with France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Merkel reiterated on Wednesday that Germany expected Greece to implement an "ambitious" austerity programme if it wanted a helping hand.

Spotting the danger, Mrs Merkel has countered with what amounts to a soft relaunch of her government.

On this front, at least, Mr Sarkozy has won some points by getting Mrs Merkel to accept his call for economic government.

That makes it less likely that Mrs Merkel will have to call a vote of confidence on the euro.

While Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany accepted full responsibility for the war, Mr Putin was much more careful with his phrasing.

Yesterday Ms Merkel said Berlin had to act quickly to avoid Opel being dragged into a possible GM insolvency.

In a German television interview on Sunday, Ms. Merkel suggested Greece needed to go further than it has in cutting spending.

Angela Merkel had less the aura of a leader who has just saved the euro than the air of an executive who has just cleared her desk.

There is some dispute about exactly what sort of majority Mrs Merkel needs to avoid humiliation.

Angela Merkel might also be seen to be in this group, compromised by her indecisiveness.

A German newspaper said Merkel had concluded Greece was insolvent and was pushing for a mandatory debt restructuring.

We would like to ask you, Angela Merkel, to please side with humanity and break away from this murderous cabal.

Mrs Merkel is often accused of doing too little to change attitudes.

Mrs. Merkel, along with many in Germany, has remained a defender of the bank's traditional role.

For Merkel and the German political establishment, it's the best of both worlds.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, her vociferous critics to the contrary, is proceeding as quickly as she can, which means not very.

Speaking through a translator, Chancellor Merkel said she was moved by the president's decision to go to Buchenwald.

Mrs Merkel's advocacy of Germany as an "education republic" began to ring hollow.

Merkel's pathological hesitations have raised the cost of each rescue by legitimising doubts about Berlin's political resolve.

ANGELA MERKEL'S political credibility has not yet been downgraded to junk status, but the past few days have done it no good at all.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have hammered out a common position on the euro debt crisis.

Yet unlike France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, Ms Merkel has no big plans to achieve them.

Germany's Angela Merkel, who criticised Russia's parliamentary election, telephoned to say she could work well with Mr Medvedev.

His model was "Franco-German understanding" built on his friendship with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, waded into Germany's debate on immigration, saying that multiculturalism had "utterly failed" .

The German government of Angela Merkel is losing support and is facing an increasingly Eurosceptic public.

Before Mrs Merkel produced her cuts, Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, had accused Germany of not doing enough to stimulate demand.

"All models that depend on ECB participation are off the table, " Mrs Merkel insisted in her parliamentary address.

The position was discussed last night by President Sarkozy of France and Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, at a meeting in Paris.

Mrs Merkel is no longer expected to mediate among a team of rivals but to lead a band of political brothers with coherent goals.

"I will say that the presumption of innocent until proven guilty applies to everybody, " the careful Merkel said, shifting in her chair.

Also, the German chancellor Angela Merkel allegedly changed her negative opinion on a loan for Greece for the same reason.

Merkel admitted that attempts by European leaders to resolve the crisis had fallen short and made a very bad situation a lot worse.

In the months before the election, Ms Merkel's knack of avoiding controversy by steering clear of any awkward policy issues seemed adroit.

A bank manager who asks not to be named describes the reaction to Ms Merkel's statement as: "Ouch! I'd better look into this crisis thing. "

Angela Merkel, the chancellor of the past three years, has been notable mainly for her invisibility.

The deal has been welcomed by the German Chancellor Angela Merkel whose government has offered financial support for the new owners.

He secured a cheerful photo with Angela Merkel days after a diplomatic punch-up in Brussels.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, said that "measured by our standards, it was neither a free, fair nor democratic election. "

To many looking on at Germany in now Ms Merkel may seem to wield the same adamantine handbag.

That was the work of Mrs Merkel, who knows her voters oppose a bail-out for Greece.

I think what Chancellor Angela Merkel is trying to do is to say, 'Where is this going? What sort of system are you going to try to create? '

Throughout the euro crisis Mr Sarkozy has appeared alongside Ms Merkel at Franco-German summits to set policy for the entire euro zone.

That would be a rebuff to Mrs Merkel's government and perhaps a fatal blow to Mr Westerwelle's transformation agenda.

BOTH Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Europe as a whole avoided disaster today.

He knew he would come under pressure on taxes, but brought no alternative offering to satisfy Mrs Merkel (if not Mr. Sarkozy).

To achieve this outcome, Ms Merkel will have to do a lot more than reiterate that the failure of the euro would mean the failure of Europe.

'I think I made an effort to understand her concerns, ' Mr. Sarkozy said at a joint press conference with Ms. Merkel in March 2008.

The Free Democrats, the junior partner in Angela Merkel's coalition government, were trounced in a state election in Berlin.

Photographers caught an awkward moment when he greeted German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a meeting of European leaders in Berlin last week.

Mr Strauss-Kahn had been scheduled to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Sunday, but that meeting has now been cancelled, reports say.

When Chancellor Angela Merkel's coalition government came to power in 2005, ministers promised to do something about this.

Mrs Merkel cancelled a visit to Italy on Friday to deal with the crisis, and said she regretted that he had quit.

Ms Merkel might say that she knows exactly how he felt, and sees no virtue in going there.

By embracing a minimum wage Mrs Merkel may deprive the opposition of a vote-winner in the next election, due in September 2013.

Mr. Trichet joined Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy at their meeting in Berlin on Wednesday to press his case once more.

Yet Ms Merkel's resolve appears to have been strengthened by her party's strong showing in European elections last week.

In Germany Ms Merkel is likely to face a conservative backlash over the choice of an Italian as guardian of the stability of the euro.

In Paris, Angela Merkel is accused of turning Germany into greater Switzerland as she forever runs scared of voters.

In fact, Indians were the only people sampled who rated Mr Bush more highly than they did Vladimir Putin, Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, visited the island on Sunday, a sign of how seriously European governments are taking the disease.

Traditional attitudes have found a home in Ms Merkel's CDU.

To oust Ms Merkel from the chancellorship in the next election, the SPD would have to win almost 40% of the vote.

What Ms Merkel's generation has left behind is the intuitive belief that Germany's national interest is inextricably bound to Europe.

The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, wants the Berlin summit to issue a ringing declaration about the values and successes of the EU.

The response from Merkel has so far been characteristically moderate despite the heated tone of criticism heaped on Germany.

That would be the bail-out that Mrs Merkel wanted to avoid, but it may never happen.

Many German bosses, say those close to them, have lost faith in the ability of Angela Merkel's government to steer Europe out of trouble.

He is not so much running against Ms Merkel as against the liberal-leaning coalition she aspires to lead.

In Germany the new chancellor, Angela Merkel, is under fire for suggesting changing the financing of it health system.

Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, called for new rules for the euro zone, allowing errant members to be excluded if necessary.

But Bruederle, from the pro-business Free Democrats, Merkel's minority coalition partners, wanted an extension of up to 20 years.

That strips German Chancellor Angela Merkel of her strongest ally and the Franco-German alliance crumbles.

Ms Merkel may yield to pressure from the CDU's liberal wing to make this the centrepiece of her election platform.

"Everyone looks at Merkel and Royal as if they are monkeys, " Frati Gucci says.

Angela Merkel, the chancellor, has twice dithered, arguing about conditions for a rescue even as the flames took hold.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy was to meet Merkel on Wednesday in Berlin to prepare for Thursday's summit, his office said.

Mrs Merkel has told the German parliament that she is not sure a deal can be reached.

A more restrained Ms. Merkel noted that the German team had some tough opponents lined up.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel decided the answer was an antique beer stein .

Mr Loescher and Mr Hambrecht chose a tour of China by Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, as a good time to amplify their complaints.

Mrs. Merkel must make clear that she will support the central bank taking on this expanded role.

From the United States of America to Japan and Europe, everyone will work on this goal, ' Ms. Merkel told reporters.

Audi kicks off its 100th birthday celebrations with a ceremony to be attended by German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Col Gaddafi's speech was "very, very appalling" and "amounted to him declaring war on his own people" .

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in particular, is sceptical about the idea of borrowing and spending as a way to recovery.

As recently as this week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that she would favour only a temporary increase to 700bn euros.

Ms Merkel said a "new chapter" had been opened in bilateral ties with the introduction of regular intergovernmental meetings.

The discord has been most apparent the last two days when German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday the euro is in danger.

Dressed in a red suit, Merkel, Germany's first female chancellor, pointed out that the tie-less dress code didn't apply to her anyway.

The city's festival committee, aware of the possible reaction from Merkel, may yet give her a bikini top.

When Nicolas Sarkozy, France's president, meets Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, the atmosphere can be chilly.

Granted, Merkel has been hamstrung by voters who are in no mood to see their taxes diverted to profligate neighbors.

Mrs Merkel has always been the sworn enemy of class distinctions within the EU.

In Tokyo, key figures will join with the President and PM Yukio Hatoyama including President Medvedev, Chancellor Merkel, and others.

German chancellor Angela Merkel is familiar with Cold War diplomacy, but on Wednesday she had her first encounter with Cool Biz diplomacy.

Angela Merkel tried to get into the spirit of things by declaring that multiculturalism has "failed, absolutely failed. "

Ms Merkel has not been much more consistent, bowing repeatedly to SPD demands for more "social" policies.

Ms Merkel's summary statement did indeed smack of reorganising the fire brigade while the blaze is still out of control.

In a telephone call to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the president called for "resolute action" .

Germany's economy is booming, but Angela Merkel's government has become a hapless prisoner of its own fearfulness.

Chancellor Merkel said, "We want France and Germany to move closer in terms of fiscal integration. "

To be fair to Merkel, she's only been attempting to resolve the euro crisis in a politically viable manner.

Throughout her political career, Ms Merkel has always made it clear that her instincts are to make progress in small steps, not giant leaps.

But Merkel said that Japan's helplessness in the face of the Fukushima disaster made her rethink the risks of the technology.

Before backing down on Friday, Mrs. Merkel had initially pressed for debt swaps instead.

Polish leaders have also made friends with Germany, seeing in Angela Merkel's leadership an opportunity for a powerful friendship.

Its hesitation about euro bail-outs and decision to shut down the nuclear industry are a measure of Ms Merkel's domestic troubles.

Yet Mr Wen and Mrs Merkel are unlikely to let such concerns get in the way of their burgeoning friendship.

Everybody must understand the constraints on Mrs Merkel. But Mr Papandreou commits a "breach of trust" if he calls a referendum.

Ms Merkel said she would make the issue a priority during the second half of her term as German chancellor.

Ms Merkel is not about to accept instead a federal fiscal union in which she would write the cheques for errant Club Med nations.

The Christian Democrats' leader, Angela Merkel, will remain as chancellor, but will form a new coalition with the liberal Free Democrats.

Next he swept into a meeting room where German Chancellor Angela Merkel waited.

Merkel had been put under extra pressure to reach a speedy solution after coming under attack from the US for damaging dawdling.

A number of lawmakers in Ms. Merkel's own center-right coalition, as well as opposition parties, have also criticized the rescue plan.

Although unpopular, the mercurial Mr Sarkozy faces none of Mrs Merkel's problems of public opposition to bail-outs.

President Barack Obama had rung German Chancellor Angela Merkel twice to stress the need for a headline-grabbing package.

His first emergency budget in July followed a telephone call from the German chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Merkel welcomed Wen to a dinner meeting Tuesday at a German government guest house in Meseberg, north of Berlin.

Leading US magazine Time has put German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the cover of its latest edition and acclaimed her as "Frau Europa" .

Merkel was unhappy about Sarkozy and Brown's active attitudes in dealing with the financial crisis, which damaged her reputation in Europe.

Repeated attempts by Angela Merkel, the polonophile German chancellor, to build a strong relationship with Poland were rebuffed.

Weber, 54, thought to be Chancellor Merkel's preferred choice, is an inflation-fighting monetary "hawk" .

If Mrs Merkel is forced to rely on opposition votes to enact the most important law of her chancellery she will be weakened.

"We want to tell people that their savings are safe, " Angela Merkel, chancellor, said at an unscheduled press conference yesterday.

Ms Merkel would do well to remember this as she pursues a permanent Security Council seat.

In 2005 they punished the SPD for its reforms and, in the general election, Ms Merkel herself for even talking about a radical path.

Merkel and Sarkozy at the German Chancellery in Berlin on Oct. 9, after talks on stabilizing the Euro and battling the Greek debt crisis.

Merkel said Friday, though, that Germany has come out of the euro crises strengthened.

In her New Year's address to the nation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged she expects turbulence in 2012.

Ms. Merkel replied that her minister had spoken for the German government.

If these results were repeated in September Ms Merkel could dump the SPD for a "bourgeois" coalition with the CSU and FDP.

The defeat of Angela Merkel's coalition in 2013 came as no surprise following the German banking crisis of the previous year.