German party drops fund call
Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) have dropped their demand for a Eurozone debt redemption fund in coalition talks with Angela Merkel’s conservatives, but the camps still have work to do to finalise a deal on banking union, both sides said yesterday. The centre-left SPD supported the idea of common Eurozone bond issuance during the height of the euro crisis, before shifting its stance early this year and backing the debt fund idea, originally floated by Germany’s council of economic advisers. But both ideas are considered taboo by Merkel’s conservatives.