EUROPEAN Central Bank council member Christian Noyer said excessive currency fluctuations may hurt global economic growth.

Germany's economy minister Wolfgang Clement called for the European Central Bank to cut interest rates in response to the strength of the euro.

German MPs today approved speeding up a €14bn tax cut by a year and trimming jobless benefits in the battle to revive Europe’s largest economy, giving Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder a boost as he seeks unpopular changes in the welfare state.

The German economy minister Wolfgang Clement, wants the Regulatory Authority for Telecommunications and Post (RegTP) to regulate the gas and electricity market also, the ministry has said. This confirms recent press reports.

ACHTUNG Bertie! The Taoiseach could take a lead from the Germans who have embarked on a campaign to get the rest of the world to think their country is sexy.

GERMAN leader Gerhard Schroeder has cancelled his Italian summer holiday after a Rome minister labelled German tourists “hyper-nationalistic blondes”.

Italy was tonight braced for a German summer boycott after Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder cancelled his holiday in pique over an attack on his countrymen abroad.

The German government said it has filed a draft law in parliament that aims to cut the number of unemployed by half in the next three years, according to economy and labour minister Wolfgang Clement.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was confirmed for a second four-year term in office today after the German parliament voted to approve his centre-left coalition’s victory in elections last month.

The debt-laden German media group Kirch has filed for insolvency, a leading member of the ruling party said today.