Merkel: no EU total debt liability in my life: sources

26/06/2012 - 17:03

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as telling a meeting of one of the parties in her coalition on Tuesday that she does not think Europe will have shared total debt liability in her lifetime.

"I don't see total debt liability as long as I live," Merkel was quoted as telling members of parliament from the Free Democrats (FDP), junior partners in her centre-right coalition, by sources who took part in the meeting.

The chancellor also said there would be no shared liability of debt in Germany either, days after her government agreed plans with federal states to issue joint "Deutschland bonds".

Merkel has warned against focusing on proposals for shared debt liability - such as the eurobonds favored by France's new Socialist leader Francois Hollande - and other "easy" solutions to the euro zone crisis at this week's European Union summit.

She said in a speech on Monday that sharing debt liability within the 17-nation single currency area would be "economically wrong and counterproductive".

(Reporting by Thorsten Severin; Writing by Stephen Brown)