Battle lines are being rapidly drawn up in the German Bundestag for what promises to be a bruising debate over the crisis measures to stabilise debt markets in the eurozone.
Angela Merkel, the chancellor, and her finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble face a revolt among their own supporters in both the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP), junior partner in the ruling coalition in Berlin, over the deal they agreed last month with their 16 eurozone partners in Brussels. The complex political landscape means that Ms Merkel is determined to resist pressure from her partners, and from the European Commission, for any further measures – such as increasing the size of the €440bn European Financial Stability Facility, or introducing eurozone bonds – for fear of losing her parliamentary majority.
Some members of the CDU have already called for an emergency party conference to debate the government’s entire eurozone strategy. The German government is also facing a highly critical press in the wake of the weekend decision by the European Central Bank to buy Italian and Spanish bonds, a move that was welcomed by Berlin, although it is opposed by the Bundesbank, Germany’s highly independent central bank, in Frankfurt.
On Tuesday, Philipp Rösler, the economy minister and FDP party leader, came up with a proposal for a European “stability council” which would set “stress tests” to measure the competitiveness of individual eurozone members, and impose automatic sanctions to force reforms upon them. The move was seen as an attempt to head off a growing revolt from his backbenchers.
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