BERLIN (MNI) – Parliamentarians from Germany’s ruling center-right
CDU/CSU-FDP coalition have criticized the “Pact for the Euro” agreed on
by Eurozone leaders late Friday night.

“The result is close to the red line of being a transfer union,
something which we reject,” Michael Meister, the deputy leader of the
CDU/CSU parliamentary group, told German daily Die Welt in an interview
published Monday.

Meister is bothered most of all by the decision to allow both the
temporary European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) and its
successor, the European Stabilisation Mechanism (ESM), to purchase
sovereign bonds in the primary market from countries that enter into
bailout agreements and undertake the required conditions.

“We will have to check this carefully also regarding its impact on
financial markets,” Meister told the newspaper.

Still, he said he believes the CDU/CSU lawmakers will back the deal
in parliament. “I expect that the CDU/CSU parliamentary group will
support the negotiation results…even though they comes close to our
pain threshold,” he was quoted as saying by Die Welt.

Volker Wissing, the FDP’s parliamentary fiscal speaker told the
newspaper he expects “difficult talks” in parliament about the euro
rescue deal.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

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