Germany

Q-Cells SE, once the world’s largest solar-cell maker, fell to a record low in Frankfurt trading before the German company said it will file for insolvency as soon as tomorrow, Bloomberg Businessweek reported. Q-Cells tumbled 41 percent to 13 euro cents as of the close of trading in Frankfurt. The manufacturer held its initial public offering in October 2005, when the shares sold at 38 euros apiece. The stock has plunged 77 percent this year as Q-Cells worked to reorganize debt while Germany’s government reduces solar subsidies and the industry fights overcapacity.

A widespread strike by services workers in Germany that has already closed kindergartens, halted buses and left trash uncollected expanded to the county's largest airports on Tuesday, disrupting air travel across the country and stranding tens of thousands of passengers, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fraport AG, the operator of the Frankfurt hub, canceled around 455 flights as members of the Ver.di union walked out ahead of wage talks due Wednesday.

The European Union took a big step on Monday toward building a financial firewall strong enough to prevent the spread of fiscal contagion to major economies like Spain after Germany dropped its opposition to bringing the Continent’s total bailout capacity to more than 690 billion euros, or $916 billion, the International Herald Tribune reported. Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, said on Monday at a news conference in Berlin that her government remained determined that a permanent European rescue fund should be capped at 500 billion euros.

Germany's 16 states are discussing ways to help the staff of insolvent drugstore chain Schlecker who face redundancy as the retailer is due to close more than 2,000 stores, Reuters reported. Unlisted Schlecker, which competes with privately-held peers Rossmann and dm, filed for insolvency in January after struggling to secure funds against a gloomy economic backdrop.

Germany appears to have accepted defeat in its efforts to convince other European countries to impose a kind of sales tax on financial transactions in the European Union or in the smaller euro zone, possibly putting up an obstacle to ratifying the permanent euro-zone bailout fund in Parliament, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The probability of imposing an EU-wide financial-transaction tax is very slim," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble told a gathering of conservative lawmakers on Tuesday, according to a person in the meeting.

German solar project developer solarhybrid AG said on Tuesday it will open insolvency proceedings with a German court, Reuters reported. It said it was filing for insolvency "due to illiquidity" with the court in Arnsberg. No other details were given in a statement issued late on Tuesday. In December, Solar Millennium AG filed for insolvency after running out of cash before it was able to finalize deals to sell large projects in the United States and Spain. German solar module marker Solon SE also filed for insolvency in December.

Insolvent German drugstore chain Schlecker aims to find an investor by the end of May, its administrator told a German magazine, Reuters reported. "If everything goes according to plan, we can be done with the investor process by the Pentecost holiday," Arndt Geiwitz told weekly Wirtschafts Woche, according to an excerpt of an article to be published on Monday. Unlisted Schlecker, which competes with privately held peers Rossmann and dm, filed for insolvency in January after struggling to secure funds against a gloomy economic backdrop.

Europe's low interest rates are fueling rising house prices in Germany, presenting the region's policy makers with a fresh challenge in their fight to restore its economic health, The Wall Street Journal reported. Signs of a property-price boom in parts of Germany are becoming a headache for the European Central Bank, which has for the past two years struggled to fashion a single stance on interest rates and support for banks that fits countries as disparate as depressed Greece and mighty Germany.

Insolvent German drugstore chain Schlecker will close around 2,000 stores and lay off almost half its workforce, the price for failing to keep up with rivals in a rapidly changing consumer market, Reuters reported. "It is very harsh that Schlecker's employees, some of whom have been with the company for a long time, are losing their jobs, and it is a decision that we did not take lightly," insolvency administrator Arndt Geiwitz said on Wednesday.

German reluctance to bolster EU debt rescue funds has delayed talks on the issue despite calls from the G20 for Europe to make progress on the issue, a eurozone governmental source said Tuesday, Agence France-Presse reported. "Germany is not ready," the source told AFP in reference to the latest developments in a global tug-of-war over eurozone emergency bailout funding.