German nuclear exit 'would cost up to ?2 bn'

European Union energy ministers failed to reach any consensus on how and when to conduct any sort of "stress test" on the nuclear-power stations in the region, German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said.

AFP - German Economy Minist

AFP - German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle caution

At long last, everyone is willing to wave the white flag on a Greece exit from the eurozone. Please consider German Vice Chancellor ‘Very Skeptical’ Greece Can Be Rescued. German Vice Chancellor Philipp Roesler said he’s “very skeptical” that European leaders will be able to rescue Greece and the prospect of the country’s exit from the euro had “lost its terror.”

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle on Thursday rejected proposals by French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde for eurozone economic governance."This kind of European economic government is not a good plan," Bruederle said in a statement."Those who are now leaning towards a European economic government are working on the wrong project."The statement was released after Lagarde floated ideas for more closely coordinated policies in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper.

German Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle cautioned upon arriving in China Tuesday that a global trade war was brewing, amid wide differences between key trading nations on currency policy."The danger of a trade war has appeared on the horizon," Bruederle told reporters travelling with him on his two-day trip to China, which was to include stops in Beijing and Shanghai."The danger is that complaints about currency undervaluing lead to retaliatory measures, which could eventually turn into a trade war," the minister said, without specifically naming any country.

The German government will "not give one cent" to help Greece out of its debt crisis, Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said on Friday as the two countries' leaders prepared to meet in Berlin.Greek Prime Minister George "Papandreou said that he didn't want one cent -- in any case the German government will not give one cent," Bruederle said on the sidelines of a meeting with European Union industry commissioner Antonio Tajani.The remarks came ahead of talks later on Friday between Papandreou and Chancellor Angela Merkel amid rising tension between the two countries.

The government of Germany has taken a consistently unhelpful attitude since the outbreak of the financial crisis, and today is no exception: