German newspapers have poured scorn on Thilo Sarrazin, the Bundesbank board member who has published a book claiming Muslim immigrants are undermining German society. His words are racist and divided, say some editorials. Others say he is voicing important points, albeit in the wrong tone.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has joined a chorus of criticism of Bundesbank board member Thilo Sarrazin for claiming in a book released on Mondaythat Germany is in decline because of its Muslim immigrants. Merkel said in a television interview on Sunday that Sarrazin’s choice of words in the integration debate was “completely unacceptable.”

“He is making a discussion of these issues much more difficult,” Merkel told the German public television station ARD. “The words being used here divide society.”

Sarrazin, a member of the center-left Social Democrats, provoked further criticism at the weekend by saying in a newspaper interview that “all Jews share a certain gene.”

Sarrazin, a former minister of finance for the city-state of Berlin, has repeatedly caused controversy by criticising Turks and Arabs in Germany. The latest controversy has led to renewed calls for him to be sacked from his Bundesbank job and evicted from his party.

In his book, Sarrazin argues that Muslims undermine German society and that young Muslim men are aggressive due to sexual frustration.

Some media commentators call Sarrazin’s comments racist, divisive and misguided and one even draws parallels between it and Hitler’s “Mein Kampf.” But others direct their criticsm more at his choice of words, and voice qualified agreement with the points he makes.

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Germany opens its business gateway into Central Asia.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s presence at the Kazakh-German business forum in Astana on Sunday confirmed the European nation’s growing interest in the developing economy of Kazakhstan but also in that country’s immense energy resources. Merkel, in fact, noted that Kazakhstan was the fourth largest energy supplier in Germany.

“Germany can contribute a lot in Kazakhstan’s industrial modernization. Germany supports Kazakhstan’s intention to diversify economy and develop infrastructure as well as promote small and medium businesses”, Angela Merkel emphasized.

Kazakhstan and Germany have signed 34 agreements to the amount of 2 billion euros. First Vice Minister of Industry and New Technologies Albert Rau has made it public at Kazakh-German business forum in Astana today.

According to him, 700 enterprises with German capital operate in Kazakhstan presently. More than 300 businessmen from Kazakhstan and Germany took part in the forum.

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Germany is the leading contributor to the European Union- and IMF-led fund to shore up the battered euro. An emergency provision in the agreement for the 750 billion euro rescue package, however, could see the country paying a lot more than the upper ceiling of 148 billion euros.

German taxpayers have already had to dig deep into their pockets to fund the bailout for nearly insolvent Greece and the triple-digit billion fund reserved to provide guarantees for euro zone member states if they run into trouble. Some members of the German government, though, are concerned that the tab for taxpayers could get even bigger.

Members of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government fear that country’s contribution to the rescue of financially troubled euro zone member states could surge above the €148 billion ($183 billion) ceiling promised by Berlin.
Although the emergency fund agreement does reference the ceiling, it also has a provision for emergency situations that, in the worst case scenario, could see Germany’s participation go well beyond the amount originally pledged. The provision states that, in an emergency, if a nation is unable to contribute its share to the bailout package, it can call upon other contributing countries for assistance in providing its share. If the request is approved unanimously by the partners to the agreement, the struggling nation’s share can then be assigned to other countries. Under this scenario, there are no caps on the total amount.

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An anonymous “how to” of terrorism techniques is circulating in Germany’s far-left scene, much to the consternation of authorities. As well as tips on making bombs, the “Anarchist Cookbook”-knockoff reveals how to outfox the police, saw down power poles and stop trains.

Back in the 1970s, no self-respecting left-wing militant was without a copy of “The Anarchist Cookbook,” a compendium of recipes for concocting home-made explosives and other strategies for taking on The Man. Now a newly penned manual of urban guerrilla warfare is causing concern among Germany’s security authorities.

According to sources in security circles, an 80-page pamphlet entitled “Prisma” (”prism”) has recently been circulating in the far-left scene. The anonymous publication includes tips for carrying out terrorist attacks and acts of sabotage, and includes instructions for constructing various kinds of bombs with time fuses and special grappling hooks which can be used to stop trains. The book also describes techniques for sawing down power poles and has several chapters devoted to investigative methods used by the police, describing in detail how urban guerrillas can cover their tracks and shake off tails.

Berlin public prosecutors have already launched an investigation into the pamphlet, which is circulating mainly in the far-left scene in Hamburg, Berlin and the state of Lower Saxony. German security agencies are concerned that the manual could further increase the — already high — propensity of young radicals to carry out violent attacks. The document encourages extremists to commit crimes “with a hitherto unknown level of meticulousness and professionalism,” says Hans-Werner Wargel, head of the Lower Saxony branch of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Germany’s domestic intelligence service.

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As if she didn’t have enough on her plate, Chancellor Angela Merkel must now find a replacement for German President Horst Köhler, who resigned in a huff on Monday. If she fails to organize a smooth succession, fresh questions will be raised about her own leadership.

Germany’s political establishment, shaken by the sudden resignation of President Horst Köhler on Monday, is rife with speculation about the possible impact on Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government as it emerged that she had warned him that quitting could plunge the country into a deep crisis.

Köhler, 67, who had started his second term last year in the largely ceremonial post, resigned in reaction to fierce criticism from the media and opposition politicians after he had linked German military deployments to the defense of the country’s economic interests in a radio interview last week.

Köhler gave Merkel only two hours’ notice before announcing his resignation and she said in her own Monday remarks that she had tried in vain to dissuade him. SPIEGEL ONLINE learned that she had warned him that resigning could trigger a crisis and shake the public’s faith in the presidency and in the institutions of state.

Köhler’s departure could not come at a worse time for Merkel, whose conservative Christian Democrats have slumped to 30 percent support, their lowest level in four years, according to a Forsa opinion poll published on Tuesday. The survey was conducted between May 25 and 28, before Köhler quit.

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European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso has said Germany’s plans to try to change the treaty to enhance economic governance in the eurozone are “naive” and accused Berlin of showing a lack of leadership throughout the current eurozone crisis.

In an interview published in Tuesday’s (25 May) edition of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Mr Barroso said that it would not be possible to make changes to the treaty in order to only to tighten eurozone rules.

Other member states would want to see modifications in other areas too, he indicated.

“It would also be naive to think one can reform the treaty only in areas Germany considers important,” said the Portuguese politician.

The message is a clear rebuke to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who alone has been pushing the idea that treaty change is needed to bring budget discipline to the eurozone, rocked in recent months first by the extent of Greece’s debt problems and then by the lack of automatic governance rules to deal with the crisis.

Mr Barroso, who previously has been accused of not being outspoken enough when it comes to large member states, was also unusually frank in his overall assessment of Germany’s role in dealing with the Greek crisis.

He accused politicians across the spectrum of the EU’s largest member state of not making the case for helping Greece and spelling out the benefits of eurozone membership.

“Germany was until now a big winner from the euro. I find that more politicians in Germany should make that clear.”

Referring to the German trade surplus of €134 billion, the commission president asked: “Does the German public know that nearly 86 percent of these 134 billion, i.e., 115 billion, comes from trade in the EU?”

Mr Barroso also accused Berlin of giving the impression at the beginning of the crisis that it did not want to help out Greece at all.

His blunt words follow months of turmoil in the eurozone as it waited for Germany, traditionally the EU’s paymaster, to take the lead on how to deal with Athens.

Amid growing criticism, Ms Merkel held out for Athens to impose tougher austerity measures while the markets sensed their was no conviction behind a series of political commitments to come to Greece’s rescue.

The chancellor, for her part, had to contend with a German public extremely hostile to the idea of helping Greece.

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Former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer has voiced fierce criticism of the way Chancellor Angela Merkel has handled the euro crisis so far. In an interview with SPIEGEL, the former Green party leader says Merkel has ‘botched’ her duties and embarrassed her country.

Read the full interview here.

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Eurozone states have agreed to potentially provide up to €30 billion in bi-lateral loans to Greece this year, should Athens prove unable to borrow sufficient money on capital markets.

The decision taken by euro area finance ministers during a teleconference on Sunday afternoon (11 April) caps off a turbulent week for Greece, during which the country’s borrowing costs rose to record highs. On Friday Greece also suffered a fresh credit rating downgrade by the Fitch agency.

A decision on future loans has yet to be taken. “The amount for the subsequent years will be decided at a later date depending on how the financial situation in Greece develops,” Luxembourgish Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker told journalists in Brussels after the teleconference. Mr Juncker chairs the monthly meetings of the eurozone’s 16 finance ministers, known as the eurogroup.

Tough austerity measures announced earlier this year by Greece’s centre-left government have so far failed to bring down the country’s borrowing costs, while a bail-out deal agreed by euro area leaders last month also failed to impress investors looking for greater detail.

“We are laying down the details of the mechanism to be launched if a Greek request is presented,” said Mr Juncker on Sunday. “This is a step of clarification the markets are waiting for…it shows that there is money behind this,” he added.

A request for aid from Athens would still need unanimous eurozone approval before the money can be transferred. Mr Juncker said the European Commission would co-ordinate and centralise the member state loans, with the European Central Bank acting as the “paying agent”.

Also speaking after the teleconference, EU economy commissioner Olli Rehn said the IMF’s contribution, likely to follow a two thirds eurozone and one third IMF formula, would be on top of the €30 billion coming from the European governments.

Mr Rehn said eurozone states would charge Greece an interest rate of around five percent, stressing this did not constitute a subsidy, a stipulation in last month’s bail-out agreement.

IMF lending is likely to come at a lower rate, with officials from the Washington-based institution set to meet commission counterparts on Monday.

Angela Merkel has insisted in recent weeks on a IMF financing role, with surveys suggesting German citizens are deeply wary of seeing their taxes going towards supporting Greece.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said the eurozone must be able to expel members that repeatedly break the club’s fiscal rules in the future.

In a speech to the German parliament on Wednesday (17 March), the chancellor stressed that such an option would only be used “as a last resort”, but added that the EU’s current Stability and Growth Pact rules are no longer sufficient to deal with the euro area’s difficulties.

“In the future, we need an entry in the [Lisbon] Treaty that would make it possible, as a last resort, to exclude a country from the eurozone if the conditions are not fulfilled again and again over the long term,” Ms Merkel said. “Otherwise co-operation is impossible.”

Market doubts over Greece’s ability to meet refinancing needs in the coming months have plunged the euro area into its greatest crisis in its 11-year history, with the possibility of a sovereign debt default weighing heavily on the euro currency.

With a deficit of 12.7 percent of GDP last year, Athens is grossly in breach of the three-percent limit laid down by stability and growth pact. Other member states have proved little better however, raising the prospect of contagion spreading to other EU countries with weak finances such as Portugal or Spain.

Ms Merkel’s comment’s echo plans outlined by Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, earlier this month, under which a European IMF-style monetary fund would be set up to aid struggling eurozone countries, but backed up by much tougher fiscal rules including the possibility of expelling repeat offenders.

With German public opinion strongly against a Greek bail-out, to which Berlin would be a main contributor, a number of analysts have interpreted Mr Schauble’s plans as a means of avoiding such aid transfers in the future by making it easier for eurozone members to leave the single currency.

At least one senior euro area official greeted Ms Merkel’s statements with sympathy on Wednesday. “An alternative view of ’safeguarding financial stability’ in the eurozone, [a stated desire of EU leaders], is to look for mechanisms that would facilitate an orderly exit of a consistently ‘misbehaving’ member state,” the official told EUobserver.

The 16-member group of European Union countries who use the euro agreed on Monday that — if push comes to shove — they would mobilize to help out debt-stricken Greece, a fellow euro-zone member. But by Tuesday, EU ministers were insisting that the contingency plan to rescue Athens would likely never be enacted.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, who leads the euro group, said that that he had an “almost unshakeable conviction” that Greece would not need emergency aid after having launched austerity measures early this month to cut its public deficit and debt. Speaking on German public television on Tuesday, Juncker said that if the financial markets continued to speculate against Greece “in an unreasonable manner,” then the euro-zone countries would be ready to provide bilateral loans to Athens.
Europe is hoping that Greece’s bid to knock its deficit from 12.7 percent to 8.7 percent of gross domestic product within a year, with drastic cuts to public sector pay and tax hikes, will succeed.

On Wednesday, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, the euro zone’s largest economy, had stern words for Greece. Speaking in parliament she said that the euro zone had to have the option of ejecting a member if it persistently broke the fiscal rules governing the common currency. The option, which would only be used as a “last resort,” should apply to countries which “again and again do not fulfil the conditions” to which members of the group are bound.

At the same time, she insisted that “no country should be left on its own” amid the crisis which has seen the euro shaken on the international currency markets. Merkel also rejected “rapid support” for Greece, saying that instead the country’s problem had to be “attacked at the roots.”

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