• Germany very much engaged in preparing summit
• EU budget should be used to increase competitiveness
• Germany wants ‘better spending’ to guide summit
• Germany and the UK want EU budget to help consolidation
• UK’s a very ‘valued member’ of the EU (damn right we are!)
• Merkel and Cameron discussed summit by phone
• Merkel also spoke to Ireland’s Kenny yesterday and agreed they Ireland to return to markets soon
• Path to direct bank recapitalization ‘stands’
• Any Spanish aid request would be a ‘sovereign’ decision
• No plans for a Draghi-Merkel Berlin meeting