Germany

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Germany is working on a stimulus package worth 75 billion-80 billion euros ($83 billion-$89 billion) to support economic recovery after the coronavirus pandemic, weekly Bild am Sonntag reported.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s coalition would stump up more than 60 billion euros, while the country’s regional states would shoulder the rest, the paper reported.

The government was not immediately available for comment.

BERLIN, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU) should assume more global responsibility in the coronavirus crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.

In a speech outlining Germany's policy during its rotating EU presidency starting in July, Merkel said the pandemic has posed enormous challenges and changed a lot from the ground up, including the plans for the EU Council Presidency, said Merkel.

BERLIN, May 30. /TASS/: Political differences between the European Union and Russia can only be resolved through dialogue, former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder said in an exclusive interview with TASS.

"Federal Chancellor [Angela] Merkel and the Russian president hold conversations on a regular basis," said Schroeder, who served as German Chancellor from 1998 to 2005.

30 May 2020; AFP: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend an in-person summit of G7 leaders that US President Donald Trump has suggested he will host despite concerns over the coronavirus pandemic, a German government spokesman said Saturday.

Leaders from the Group of Seven, which the United States heads this year, had been scheduled to meet by videoconference in late June after COVID-19 scuttled plans to gather in-person at Camp David, the US presidential retreat in the state of Maryland.

BERLIN/FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lufthansa’s management board has accepted a more favourable set of demands from the European Commission in exchange for approval of a 9 billion euro ($10 billion) government bailout, the carrier said on Saturday, paving the way for its rescue.

The agreement comes after the airline’s supervisory board on Wednesday rejected an initial deal with Brussels including conditions that were significantly more painful.

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel told senior members of her party that the German government would not allow the European Commission to deprive Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) of valuable take-off and landing slots at Frankfurt and Munich airports, Handelsblatt reported.

“We won’t allow that to happen,” Merkel said according to participants in the meeting, the business daily reported. Merkel was also quoted as saying there would be a “tough fight”.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - European countries need to join forces to shield their banks from the coronavirus outbreak, one of the bloc’s top regulators said on Monday, potentially using a 500 billion euro ($545 billion) EU recovery fund to do so.

The remarks from Jose Manuel Campa, who leads the European Banking Authority (EBA), will rekindle a divisive debate about whether rich countries such as Germany should support banks of poorer neighbours such as Italy.

BERLIN (Reuters) - The German economy is starting to recover as curbs to slow the coronavirus are lifted, a business morale survey showed on Monday, and separate output data pointed to the importance of government spending to support the recovery.

Business morale in Europe’s largest economy rebounded in May, the Ifo economic institute said, recovering from its worst decline on record in April as a reopening of the economy boosted expectations among companies.

24 May 2020; AFP: Dozens of demonstrations were held across Germany on Saturday as part of a protest movement against coronavirus lockdown measures which is gaining momentum.

The rallies have been held weekly since the start of April, swelling in recent weeks to gatherings of thousands in major German cities.

The movement sees the government restrictions to curb the spread of the virus as the beginning of an authoritarian regime or an illegal attack on individual freedoms.

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Lufthansa (LHAG.DE), which is in talks with the German government over a 9 billion euro ($9.8 billion) bailout, will resume flights to 20 destinations from mid-June, including some holiday hot-spots, a spokeswoman said on Sunday.

The destinations include Mallorca, Crete, Rhodes, Faro, Venice, Ibiza and Malaga, the spokeswoman said, adding flights would depart from the airline’s main hub in Frankfurt.

Further destinations will be unveiled at the end of next week, she said.

Bild am Sonntag first reported the new destinations.