Germany mulls leveraging bailout fund ‘to €1 trillion’

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is mulling a boost in the firepower of the EU’s bailout fund to €1 trillion, the Financial Times Deutschland reported yesterday.

Europe is looking for ways to beef up the European Financial Stability Facility because experts fear the €440 billion fund is too small to prevent the eurozone debt crisis from spreading.

Nevertheless, German politicians are concerned the contribution of Germany, effectively the European Union’s paymaster, will have to be increased to beyond the €211 billion euros already agreed in Parliament.

However, Mr Schaeuble’s spokesman, Martin Kotthaus, told a regular government briefing that his minister had only suggested certain figures “to serve as an example.”

“I am certain that no concrete figures or concrete models for the EFSF were mentioned,” said Mr Kotthaus.

And he dismissed fears that Berlin might have to stump up more to save the euro.

“There is no discussion about the €440 billion or the €211 billion in German guarantees. I don’t know how I can make it clearer. Full stop. That’s it. End of story. Basta.”

The FT Deutschland reported Mr Schaeuble as saying that the fund could be leveraged to offer partial insurance of 20 - 30 per cent should member countries not be able to repay their sovereign debt, quoting unnamed sources.

The partial insurance coverage would enable eurozone countries to borrow more on the capital markets, the newspaper said.

“It’s about working out how we can use the instruments that we have the most efficiently, but always with this clearly defined upper limit,” Mr Kotthaus told reporters.