Germany

The European Union summit that ended Friday suggested Germany and France, always awkward partners in managing the three-year-old euro crisis, are increasingly at odds over how to resolve it, The Wall Street Journal reported. The summit produced a tortuous compromise between the currency bloc's two biggest nations over the creation of a new euro-zone banking supervisor, but it also brought simmering disagreements between Berlin and Paris into the open.

Germany is proposing to toughen Greece’s access to international aid by setting up an escrow account outside its reach to guarantee payments of interest and debt to creditors, a government official said, Bloomberg reported. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, who suggested that Greece will get more aid even while struggling to meet the conditions, wants a lasting solution to the country’s debt crisis to restore confidence in financial markets, the official, who asked not to be named, told reporters.

German ship owners have called for a state bailout as the sector continues to struggle with overcapacity, rising fuel costs and hard-pressed banks pulling back from lending to the industry, Reuters reported. The global shipping crisis has hit Germany particularly hard because the euro zone's biggest economy is also home to the biggest fleet of container ships, accounting for 1,800 of the 5,000 vessels worldwide. Between 500 and 700 German-owned vessels are facing liquidity problems, an industry source said, and about 100 have already gone bust.

High-level splits over the handling of the eurozone crisis burst into the open on Thursday when Germany’s finance minister rebuked the head of the International Monetary Fund after she warned that EU leaders should ease demands for tighter austerity in peripheral economies, the Financial Times reported. Wolfgang Schäuble said Christine Lagarde had appeared to contradict the IMF’s own stance in advocating an easing of austerity, noting that the fund had “time and again” warned that high debt levels threatened economic growth.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, making her first visit to Athens since Europe's debt crisis began in late 2009, on Tuesday said she saw "light at the end of the tunnel" for Greece as the debt-stricken country battles through a painful austerity program aimed at restoring its fiscal health, The Wall Street Journal reported. Ms.

Spain is ready to request a euro zone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signaled that it should hold off, European officials said on Monday. The latest twist in the euro zone's three-year-old sovereign debt crisis comes as financial markets and some other European partners are pressuring Madrid to seek a rescue program that would trigger European Central Bank buying of its bonds, Reuters reported. "The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said.

Spanish discount supermarket chain Dia is to acquire the Spanish and Portuguese arms of insolvent German drugstore chain Schlecker, it said on Friday, to diversify its product range and expand its presence in the two countries, Reuters reported. Dia has agreed to pay 70.5 million euros ($90.6 million) for Schlecker's 1,127 stores and three distribution centres in Spain and 41 stores and one distribution centre in Portugal. Schlecker filed for insolvency in January. The German company reported net sales of 318 million euros on the Iberian peninsula in 2011.

Sanicare, Germany's largest mail-order pharmacy, has filed for insolvency due to problems that have arisen following the recent death of its founder and head, the company said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. A statement said the insolvency was for the mail-order pharmacy activities of the company and would not affect the rest of Sanicare's businesses, which include the online unit. The mail-order business would be run by court-appointed administrator Ralph Buenning after the family of founder and former head Johannes Moenter filed for insolvency on Sept. 25 with the court in Osnabrueck city.

Three international banks that backed out of $10 billion debt restructuring talks with an investment company controlled by Dubai's ruler said Thursday they are now pursuing legal action against the firm, dashing hopes of a consensual deal, The Seattle Times reported on an Associated Press story. The move by Britain's Royal Bank of Scotland, Commerzbank of Germany and South African lender Standard Bank will likely further complicate Dubai Group's efforts to move beyond its debt troubles after more than a year and a half of negotiations with creditors.

German solar equipment maker Centrotherm has sold its subsidiary Michael Glatt Maschinenbau GmbH as it tries to claw its way out of insolvency, Reuters reported. The company, which filed for protection from creditors in July, said it sold Michael Glatt to Buechl Handels- und Beteiligungs-KG. It did not disclose a purchase price. Michael Glatt, which traces its roots to 1924, makes industrial products including reactors for chemicals and sterile tanks for the food industry. Read more.