NO BREAKTHROUGH: Participants say German Chancellor Angela Merkel failed to reach an agreement with the country’s opposition leaders on a European growth initiative in a new round of talks Wednesday.
THE BACKGROUND: Germany’s center-right government needs the support of opposition parties to secure a two-thirds majority in Parliament in order to pass the European Union’s new treaty enshrining fiscal discipline.
THE OUTLOOK: Merkel is most prominent European leader championing fiscal discipline and austerity measures. But the election of Francois Hollande as president of France last month shifted the political tide in Europe away from talk about austerity measures toward ways of fostering growth as the bloc is on the brink of a recession.
