Merkel Presses Spain to Accept Bailout

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble are urging Spain's government to take an international bailout as it struggles to shore up the country's banks, Der Spiegel magazine reported, without saying where it got the information.

Spain alone cannot solve its banking troubles and Merkel and Schaeuble want Spain to tap Europe's temporary bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, for aid for banks, Spiegel said.

Schaeuble pressed Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos on a bailout during the latter's visit to Berlin last week, and de Guindos rebuffed him, Spiegel said.

German government experts estimate that Spain's banking industry will need a capital injection of 50-90 billion euros, Spiegel said.

Steffen Seibert, Merkel's chief spokesman, declined to comment on the report when contacted by phone today by Bloomberg News.