BERLIN (MNI) – German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU-FDP
coalition now wants the whole Bundestag, the lower house of parliament,
to approve changes to the guidelines for the European Financial
Stability Facility, and not only the budget committee, a coalition
official told Market News International on Monday.

As recently as Friday, the government coalition had rejected a
motion by the opposition demanding this.

Under German law, the budget committee has to approve any changes
to the EFSF. A vote of the whole Bundestag is only necessary if a
majority of parliamentarians demand it.

It had been expected that the budget committee would vote on an
EFSF proposal — which has not yet been finalized — before the EU
leaders’ summit on Wednesday. It now appears that the full Bundestag
will vote on the matter, probably on Wednesday before the summit,
assuming something concrete can be presented to it by then.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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