German Chancellor Angela Merkel puts her foot down and reiterates her "no" to the increase in the ESM, the new State-saving Fund that will enter into force this year. Indeed, Germany does not see the need to expand the financing capacity beyond the 500 billion euros already agreed.
"In March we will examine together the entity of the ESM", specified Steffen Seibert, spokesman for the chancellor, communicating that Merkel will meet the president of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker on Friday, in the city of Straslund, to have a talk on the preparation of the European summit in March.
According to Berlin, after the agreement that will grant 130 billion euros of aid to Athens, there is no discussion in Europe about lowering interest rates on Portuguese government bonds following the Hellenic swap operation.
The spokesman then stressed that the progress made by Spain is an example how structural reforms can have a positive impact on solving a country's problems.
