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Merkel and Sarkozy meet to thrash out debt crisis measures

The French and German leaders are holding talks today in the hope of finding a common way forward for the troubled Eurozone.

THE LEADERS OF Germany and France, the eurozone’s two biggest economies, are meeting to discuss new measures to counter the bloc’s debt crisis and to seek ways to strengthen Europe’s shaky banking sector.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy are holding the talks at Berlin’s chancellery today to forge an agreement ahead of a summit of the European Union’s 27 leaders later this month.

A key issue in the talks is likely to be the need for a coordinated plan to bolster Europe’s banks to withstand a possible government bond default by Greece and how to prevent contagion that could threaten other heavily indebted eurozone nations.

Merkel spoke out in favour of a coordinated bank recapitalisation earlier this week following talks with the International Monetary Fund and other European leaders.

The chancellor said that banks must first seek to raise new capital on the market before turning to their government, insisting that the Eurozone’s newly strengthened €440 billion bailout fund would then only serve as a backstop if a member state can’t cope with shoring up its banks’ capital.

France, however, has appeared to favour turning to the fund’s resources right away instead of relying on a national facility to re-capitalise its banks – who are among the biggest holders of Greek bonds.

French Finance Ministry officials on Friday declined to comment on the different approaches.

Merkel and Sarkozy were set to hold a news conference after holding their first hour of talks, with a working dinner scheduled following the press conference.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble and his French counterpart Francois Baroin were also taking part in the discussions.

The chancellor has insisted that the October 17-18 summit of European leaders in Brussels must send a clear signal on the issue in a bid to restore market confidence.

Germany and France, which together represent about half of the 17-nation currency zone’s economic output, regularly hold talks before EU summits to chart out joint positions.

Schaeuble told the Sunday paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that “there is a high risk that the crisis will grow more acute and spread further.”

One of the countermeasures that therefore have to be in place, he was quoted as saying, must be “to make sure that the banks have sufficient capital.”

Read more: Eurozone debt crisis: 9 key diary dates this month>

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17 Comments
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    Mute Suzie Sunshine
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:17 PM

    To think there’s a family out there who’s probably been looking for that poor girl for the last twenty years , it’s very sad .

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    Mute MandyTwinkleToes
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    Dec 4th 2015, 4:53 AM

    And what about the disappeared don’t they count?

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    Mute jane
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:19 PM

    How do you lose a skull?

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    Mute Debbie Duggan
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:45 PM

    The poor girl,how could she ever rest in peace,no family as yet,buried in a place she probably never knew,from her shoulders down in a coffin and her skull probably in a box in a basement somewhere..such a sad story..your right Jane how do you lose a skull..

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    Mute Carol Keane
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:57 PM

    My parents were involved in the recovery of the body of a man in the early 2000′s (?) in the Shannon Estuary. That man has never been identified. He was given a state burial in Ennis. Another member of the rescue crew entered a competition on Clare FM a short time after to win a headstone. The competition called for people to write their own epitaph. He wrote one for the unidentified man and won. “All you people of Co. Clare, kneel down here and say a prayer, for the man from God knows where”. Very sad to think that there is no name on that headstone.

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    Mute fusha2020
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    Dec 1st 2015, 11:07 PM

    That made me go cold. What a lovely thing to do for someone and a lovely epitaph.Unclaimed bodies always make me feel so terribly sad, lost souls,some never missed and others never found.

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    Mute Martin Oliver Browne
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:30 PM

    With technology and communication being so advanced it is hard to believe this persons family or friends can not be located ..very sad story ..

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    Mute Tosh Lavery
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    Dec 1st 2015, 11:06 PM

    Great and sensitive article.

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    Mute Aisling Brady
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:16 PM

    another massive Fail for the Irish State – We are good at failure.

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    Mute Maggie
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:22 PM

    Hardly a fail.sure she cud have come from anywhere

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    Mute Colette Kearns
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    Dec 1st 2015, 10:40 PM

    Thats the sad thing about stories like this, maybe no family to miss her! Like the lady who’s body was found in the sea in clontarff I dont think she was even identified never mind been missed! We all take it so much for granted that everyone has family! Cherish yours everyday♡♡

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    Mute fusha2020
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    Dec 1st 2015, 11:12 PM

    A pretty epic fail really by forensic standards. No dental xrays,no chance of facial reconstrustion. Plus its just bad form to loose a part of someone,how’d you even do that its not exactly a set if keys!

    51
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