German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble rejects talk of bail-out fund at EU summit

By Angela Monaghan

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has sought to lower expectations ahead of Thursday's EU leaders' summit in Brussels, insisting the scale of the permanent eurozone bail-out fund will not be decided at the meeting.

Mr Schaeuble said the size of the new European Stability Mechanism (ESM) would be "considered throughout March".

Germany has signalled that it could pay half of its contribution to the ESM this year, and Mr Schaeuble urged other countries to pay as much as possible into the fund as soon as they can.

Data showed the German unemployment rate remained unchanged in February at 6.8pc, after the initial estimate for January was revised up from 6.7pc. The number of people out of work was roughly unchanged at 2.866m.

"We expect the German labour market to remain in good shape as a modest economic recovery should already be under way and gain strength during the course of this year," said Thomas Harjes, economist at Barclays Capital.

Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/9114060/German-finance-minister-Wolfgang-Schaeuble-rejects-talk-of-bail-out-fund-at-EU-summit.html