
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicholas Sarkozy have said they will meet next week to discuss the Euro zone debt crisis. Their first meeting of 2012 comes after all EU countries except the UK agreed to work together on a new treaty to stabilise the Euro zone.

Europe must cooperate more closely if it wants the Euro to succeed as its shared currency, and it still has a long way to go to overcome its sovereign debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in her New Year's Eve address.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said agreements reached at an EU summit this week will solve the Euro zone's debt crisis and that Germany needs a strong Europe.

“Uruguay must act like the kids begging in the corners and traffic light crossings, asking for a dime from whoever” said President Jose Pepe Mujica on recalling the importance of funds from what ever origin to sponsor and promote scientific research.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Standard & Poor’s downgrade warning for 15 Euro- area governments will spur European leaders to double efforts to resolve the debt crisis at the Dec. 8-9 summit.

Germany and France stepped up a drive on Monday for intrusive powers to reject national budgets in the Euro zone that breach EU rules, as a market rout of European debt eased temporarily on hopes of outside help for Italy and Spain.

Germany and France again on Wednesday over whether the European Central Bank should take bolder steps to stem the Euro zone debt crisis, with Chancellor Angela Merkel issuing one of her starkest warnings yet against fiddling with the central bank's strict inflation-fighting mandate.

The leaders of Britain and Germany David Cameron and Angela Merkel acknowledged differences over the Euro zone crisis but stressed they have the same plan for European growth. The prime minister met the German chancellor on Friday in Berlin to discuss the Euro zone crisis, and Iran and Syria.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reiterated Thursday her opposition to a greater role for the European Central Bank in helping to solve the Euro zone debt crisis, saying political action was required.

Moody’s ratings agency decided on Thursday to surprisingly downgrade the rating of ten German public-sector banks. This is the first time Europe’s largest economy in the region, which keeps the Euro zone afloat, is hit.