World leaders should not “overestimate” Germany’s ability to resolve the eurozone debt crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel has said.
She told Germany’s parliament that the country’s options for rescuing the eurozone were “not unlimited”.
Mrs Merkel called for more regulatory powers for the European Central Bank, and repeated that growth should not be financed by more debt.
Her speech came ahead of a meeting of G20 nations in Mexico this weekend.
Referring to the meeting, she said: “I say to them Germany is strong, Germany is an engine of economic growth and a stability anchor in Europe… but Germany’s powers are not unlimited.”
She expected the debt crisis to be the main issue at the summit. “Our country will be the centre of attention. It’s a fact, all eyes are on Germany because we are the biggest European economy and a major exporter,” Mrs Merkel said.
But Europe would only find a way out of the crisis with a strong “political union” that mandated greater fiscal co-ordination and oversight to put member countries on a “solid foundation”, she said.
Mrs Merkel has resisted calls that austerity measures in the eurozone should be relaxed in the hope that it would boost growth. “We must all resist the temptation to finance growth again through new debt,” she said.
