Merkel eurozone plan may hit voting snag

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel may fall short of a majority in her own coalition for a crucial reform of the eurozone rescue fund meant to stop a sovereign debt crisis spreading, in what would be a severe blow to her authority, a test vote has showed.

Talk of proposals to leverage up the €440 billion bailout fund to multiply Europe’s financial firepower lifted global stocks yesterday but made it harder for Merkel to unite her fractious centre-right coalition.

The Bundestag (lower house) is sure to approve a widening of the scope of the European Financial Stability Facility to aid weak states and banks, agreed by European leaders in July, since the opposition Social Democrats and Greens say they will vote for the measure tomorrow.