Angela Merkel news stories on Newser

Europe Braces for Greek Exit

Rob Quinn — Thu, 24 May 2012 01:51:32 CDT

New kid on the European block François Hollande made an audacious debut at his first EU summit, but the crisis meeting ended without a clear solution to the eurozone's woes. The French president, backed by most EU leaders, supports issuing "eurobonds" to shore up troubled EU economies, but he met...

Hollande, Merkel Set for Eurobond Showdown

Rob Quinn — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:20:05 CDT

Yet another European Union crisis meeting will be held today, but the dynamic has changed since the days when Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy met ahead of time to fix a strategy. Unlike his predecessor, François Hollande has sided with European leaders calling for growth instead of austerity and supporting...

Angela Merkel Answers Obama With a Shrug

John Johnson — Sat, 19 May 2012 12:11:55 CDT

President Obama is huddling with other G-8 leaders today at Camp David, with Europe's financial crisis expected to be the main topic of conversation. More precisely: Whether Obama can persuade Germany's Angela Merkel to ease up on her austerity strategy and mix in some stimulus, reports AP . If their greeting...

Greek Euro Exit May Cost $1T

Kevin Spak — Thu, 17 May 2012 07:44:49 CDT

Europe has hundreds of billions of reasons to try to keep Greece from unceremoniously ditching the eurozone. If Greece leaves, the rest of Europe would face catastrophic losses, Reuters reports. Greece would default on the roughly $250 billion in debt held by the ECB, IMF, and other eurozone nations, and...

Day 1 as French President: Lightning Hits His Plane

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 15 May 2012 12:30:41 CDT

Francois Hollande started off his new job as president of France with a bang: His plane was hit by lightning today en route to Germany. It was forced to return to Paris, at which point Hollande boarded a second plane and will be about an hour and a half late...

France Swears In Hollande

Polly Davis Doig — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:56:43 CDT

France today installed Socialist Francois Hollande as its new president for the next five years, replacing conservative Nicolas Sarkozy with a mandate to ease up on the austerity measures with which Europe has fought its economic crisis. Hollande, the first Socialist to have access to France's nuke codes in 17...

Germany May Tax Young Workers

John Johnson — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 09:56:19 CDT

Germany, too, is facing a huge spike in retirees, and the government is considering a new tax on younger workers to help pay for their pensions and health benefits, reports the Sydney Morning Herald . The measure to be introduced this month is expected to require workers 25 and older to...

Germany Elects New President

Polly Davis Doig — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 08:50:22 CDT

Germany today elected a former anti-Communist pastor as president, with 72-year-old Joachim Gauck receiving 991 of the 1,232 ballots cast, reports the AP . Gauck assumes the largely ceremonial post in the wake of the resignation of Christian Wulff, who quit last month in a scandal over financial favors. He...

Oops: Waiter Dumps Beer on Merkel

John Johnson — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:21:08 CST

Bad: Being a waiter and dumping several glasses of beer on a world leader. Worse: It's caught on video. A 21-year-old waiter in Germany emptied his tray onto the back of Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, though she took it like a good sport, reports USA Today . The Daily Intel...