German finance ministry may be stripped of policymaking in Europe

Germany’s Social Democrats want to strip euro policymaking out of the finance ministry in chancellor Angela Merkel’s third term, according to three people familiar with the party’s negotiating strategy.

The SPD wants to confine the powers of the ministry currently run by Wolfgang Schäuble to the budget and financial relations between Germany’s federal and state governments.

Responsibility for Europe, the euro, and banking would be split into another ministry, they trio said.