Germany faced mounting pressure yesterday to let the European Central Bank (ECB) save the euro, as France fretted on reports of IMF contingency bailout planning for a re-modelled Italy.

With bond market vultures circling even gold-plated economies and Italy’s La Stampa daily citing IMF officials on a rescue plan worth up to €600 billion, another of Germany’s closest allies broke ranks, leaving Berlin isolated.

Amid predictions that the common currency faces its death throes within weeks failing radical intervention, Austria joined Finland in backing ECB action to stem the financial market contagion threatening Italy, Spain and even France.

The pressure has intensified since Germany itself struggled to raise public finance on commercial money markets last week. Clearly the race is on to prevent interest rates for Italy or Spain from skyrocketing to the levels that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to accept multi-billion bailout EU-IMF loans.

The scope for direct ECB action at primary level, as long sought by US, British and other G7 partners among the world’s most powerful economies, will be the unspoken nub of euro finance ministers’ talks tomorrow evening in Brussels.

In Strasbourg last week for a mini-summit with France and Italy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said politicians should not intervene in ECB decision-making. The Financial Times Deutschland interpreted that exchange as proof that France, the most vociferous eurozone backer of a turbo-charged ECB role at the heart of the continent’s politics, was winning the day.