Greece said it’s aiming for an agreement with creditors on the next tranche of emergency loans by the beginning of May as German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble sought to play down debt relief expectations.

Germany is considering scrapping tax benefits for companies that do business with tax havens abroad as a reaction to the Panama papers, Der Spiegel magazine reported yesterday.

A British vote to leave the EU would damage the British, European and global economies, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said in an interview with the BBC.

Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and a senior Bavarian politician have criticised Greece’s role in Europe’s biggest migration crisis since the Second World War.

The German parliament approved a third bailout for Greece yesterday after finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, said the country should get “a new start”, while in Athens the government agonised over whether to call a snap election.

“A Grexit would be traumatic enough that it would help scare the rest of Europe into giving up more sovereignty to a stronger banking and fiscal union. The argument was that letting Greece burn would make it easier to build a stronger Europe with a more credible firewall.”

Germany’s surplus does not pose a problem for other members of the eurozone, finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday, answering critics of its export-driven economy.

Angela Merkel and Alexis Tsipras have sought to play down the drama of the Greek leader’s first official visit to Berlin today.

The European Commission warned of “catastrophe” if Greece has to abandon the euro and its chief executive, Jean-Claude Juncker, urged EU governments to show solidarity as Athens struggles to secure more credit.

The German Finance Minister has urged members of parliament to approve an extension of Greece's bailout.

The chasm between Greece and Germany has widened to an alarming degree as the government in Athens began reversing many of the austerity measures under its programme last night.

Greece is considering requesting an extension to its loan agreement, government officials have said, in an effort to reach a last-minute deal with the country’s European creditors and avoid the danger of a euro exit.

The Schaeuble Doctrine eschews cutting deals, but it ignores the lessons of history at its peril, writes Ray Kinsella

The first direct talks between Greece and Germany since a new anti-bailout government took power in Athens last week yielded no agreement on narrowing their differences.

Greece’s new finance minister has sought to convince his sceptical German counterpart to back a new approach on Greek debt – but an agreement still appears to be a long way off.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker’s €300bn investment plan requires deregulation to unleash its full potential.

A German news magazine yesterday reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel is unhappy with ECB chief Mario Draghi for apparently proposing a greater emphasis on fiscal stimulus over austerity in order to boost growth in Europe.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble reckons a third bailout for Greece would be less than €10bn, significantly smaller than each of the previous aid packages, German magazine Focus has reported.

Germany’s top finance officials warned investors against prematurely celebrating an overhaul of Europe’s economies four years after they plunged into crisis.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble says he is tired of calls to sacrifice deficit reduction for economic growth, just as US Treasury secretary Jacob J Lew pressed Germany to boost domestic demand.

Russia pulled back a battalion from along the Ukrainian border yesterday after sending its prime minister to shower promises on Crimea, pledging quick funds to improve power supplies, water lines and education on its newly annexed peninsula.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble presented a five-year fiscal plan that would end almost half a century of rising federal debt by forgoing net new borrowing starting in 2015.

German lenders are lobbying finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble to resist calls for faster pooling of Europe’s planned bank-resolution fund, citing the cost for Germany.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has squared off with the European Central Bank over the pace of pooling bank levies in a euro-area resolution fund, potentially slowing the proposal’s progress into law.

EU finance ministers have reached political agreement on a final piece of the bloc’s planned banking union after more than a year of hard bargaining – the most ambitious step in integrating its economy since the adoption of the euro.

German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble pushed back against Deutsche Bank co-CEO Juergen Fitschen after he said the minister’s call to keep up vigilance of banks was “irresponsible”.

European Union ministers overcame German unease at direct aid to lenders and agreed on rules for how public funds can be made available for banks shown to have insufficient capital in upcoming balance-sheet checks.

Ireland was advised not to apply for additional aid from the EU’s rescue fund as it exits the bailout programme by the German finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble.

Germany’s finance minister said in an interview published today that he expects a future aid package for Greece to be much smaller than the country’s existing rescue deals.

Germany’s finance minister admitted for the first time yesterday that Greece would need a third aid package, as a source in Athens said the sums involved in any new deal would be far smaller than previous rescues.

Germany’s Finance Minister has visited Greece amid massive police security, insisting there was “no convenient short cut” for the country’s bailout programme.

Amazon.com’s main German unit paid income tax of just €3m in 2012 after the group channelled sales to German clients of $8.7bn via Luxembourg units, prompting one lawmaker to call for an investigation of the company.

Cypriot politicians turned to the European Union today in a last-ditch effort to help their island nation forge a viable plan to secure an international bailout after failing for a week to find a solution to a crisis that could force their country into bankruptcy.

The German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said the worst of the eurozone sovereign debt crisis is over.

Germany last night warned Ireland that looking for lower interest rates and longer maturity on its bailout, similar to the deal for Greece, would be “disastrous”.

German lawmakers have overwhelmingly backed a deal aimed at trimming Greece’s debt load and keeping the country financially afloat.

The IMF and EU appear to have ironed out their differences over Greece’s bailout and releasing the long-delayed latest instalment to Athens.

European finance ministers have inched towards strengthening their banking sectors and the management of their economies at a meeting in Brussels, but put off decisions on comprehensive solutions to the region’s financial crisis.

Greek MPs approved the country’s 2013 austerity budget in a vital step to persuade international creditors to unblock a vital rescue loan instalment without which the country will go bankrupt.

About 15,000 protesters converged on the Greek capital’s main square outside Parliament tonight, ahead of a vote by MPs on the 2013 budget which would once more cut pensions and salaries so Greece can qualify for its next vital batch of rescue loans.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said today that Ireland is a special case in terms of its banking debt.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan will today meet with his German counterpart today.

The European Central Bank and lead lender Germany moved swiftly to shoot down a claim by Greece’s finance minister that the country had been granted a long-sought extension to meet the terms of its bailout programme.

Spain is ready to request a eurozone bailout for its public finances as early as next weekend but Germany has signalled that it should hold off, European officials said yesterday.