Germans see Merkel as defender of euro

BERLIN (Reuters) – Angela Merkel’s supporters praised her for getting France to drop demands to use the European Central Bank to leverage euro crisis funds, but looked like making a meal out of the German parliament’s new right to be consulted on how these are used.

“Merkel’s Battle for our Euro,” was Monday’s headline in the mass-circulation conservative paper Bild, saying she taught France’s Nicolas Sarkozy “that the EFSF rescue fund cannot be used to print money” to solve the debt crisis.

“The chancellor must stick to her guns — in the interests of Germany and of Europe,” said the newspaper.

But while her supporters in the Bundestag (lower house of parliament) welcomed the assertiveness in Sunday’s summit from a leader often accused of dithering, they also risked delaying Europe’s response to the debt crisis at a crucial juncture by insisting on a full debate before Wednesday’s second summit.

Her Christian Democrats’ (CDU) floor leader Volker Kauder was said to want a full debate rather than just a vote by the 41-member budget committee, which would be quicker and less risky while still fulfilling new rules on consulting MPs.

A government source said the lower house would vote on the issue on Wednesday.

With criticism ringing in Germany’s ears from the head of the Eurogroup of single currency members, Jean-Claude Juncker, about it being slow to make decisions, Merkel met the heads of the main parties to seek consensus.

As a result of a constitutional court decision last month, she cannot agree to changes to the 440 billion euro European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) without the agreement of the Bundestag’s budget committee, scheduled to meet on Tuesday.

She is then due to address parliament on Wednesday before returning to Brussels for what should be a more decisive summit on boosting the firepower of the EFSF, raising the contribution of private banks to Greece’s rescue, and getting European banks to increase their own capital to prevent contagion.

Her conservative bloc’s chief whip, Peter Altmaier, said Sunday’s summit “made headway” on all three issues, including “using the EFSF to avoid having to print money,” and it should now be possible to produce the “comprehensive” crisis response that Merkel and Sarkozy have promised by the end of this month.