PARIS (AP) — European news organizations bleeding money and readers are trying to avoid extinction by asking governments in France, Germany and Italy to step in and charge Google for using their content in its search results — something the Web giant has always done for free.

It said making search engines pay for directing people to news websites was like “asking a taxi driver to pay for taking a customer to a restaurant”.

Google Search is the most used search engine on the World Wide Web, receiving several hundred million queries each day through its various services.

The dispute underscores a fundamental question facing media agencies around the world: Who should benefit from links to online content that is costly to produce and yet generates a fraction of the ad revenue that once allowed newspapers to flourish.

Six years ago, then French President Jacques Chirac unveiled plans for Quaero (Latin for “we search”) as the answer to US dominance of the Internet.

The multi platform search and operating system was supposed to work with desktop computers, mobile devices and even televisions.

This week, implicit threats hovered over a meeting between current French President Francois Hollande and Eric Schmidt, Google’s executive chairman.

Hollande demanded Google reach a deal with publishers over the copyright dispute and also address the French taxes it escapes by basing its European headquarters in Ireland.

Google essentially reiterated a point it made in a recent letter to French publishers: Paris’ latest attempt to impose itself would force readers to “Anglo Saxon” sites based in countries with more favourable copyright laws, such as Britain and Ireland.

Google’s post meeting statement said the discussions dealt with “the contributions of the Internet to job creation and the influence of French culture in the world.”.

Adding to the pressure on Google in France, a French newspaper reported Wednesday that French authorities are threatening Google with a 1 billion euro tax bill and investigating alleged financial wrongdoing.

Google France denied being notified of such a tax bill and said it will “continue to co operate with the French authorities.”.

Government spokeswoman Najat Vallaud Belkacem wouldn’t comment on the report in the weekly Canard Enchaine, except to say that if there were a tax probe, it would be covered by laws on fiscal secrecy.

French publishers, along with counterparts in Germany and Italy, are hoping Brazil will be the proof that there is a successful way to confront Google.

Google is in a showdown with the French government over proposals to make search engines pay a charge for each link to French newspaper content.

For example, if a Google search about the French president, François Hollande, returned a list of articles by the newspapers Le Figaro or Les Echos, Google would have to pay a commission fee for displaying those links.

Unlike in Europe, the Brazilian publishers have not turned to their government to act as a mediator or impose a tax as part of their dealings with Google.

Released in beta in November 2004, the Google Scholar index includes most peer reviewed online journals of Europe and America’s largest scholarly publishers, plus scholarly books and other non peer reviewed journals.

“Newspapers live off advertising revenues, like Google. They’re our competition and they have billions and billions in revenues globally,” said Ricardo Pedreira, executive director of Brazil’s National Association of Newspapers.

Still, Pedreira is not convinced Brazil is a good model for European nations.

Carlos Castilho, a media critic and TV journalist, writing on the press watchdog website Observatorio da Imprensa, argued that the boycott was a backward strategy, because “news is everywhere today and to surround it with walls of copyrights is like trying to dry ice.”.

The growth of search engines as a way to find information is affecting news organizations in different ways.

Editors claim the search engine is benefiting from advertising opportunities that are being lost to their sites.

Print news was suffering in the United States and Europe long before financial crises took hold in recent years, its business model eroded by television and the Internet.

As print advertising revenues have declined, more media organizations are trying to boost circulation and earn more through subscriptions, including charging for online content.

The New York Times is among the most prominent news organizations with a website paywall.

The Associated Press and Google have a long standing business agreement that includes Google licensing of AP content as well as joint efforts to improve news products and services.

European publishers have seen less rapid change in readership patterns as a result of the Internet and have been able to stave off the dramatic losses that gutted American print journalism.

Still, competition has grown fiercer and profits slimmer with the onset of the European debt crisis.

In France, the once iconic newspaper France Soir went into liquidation in July.

In October, dapd, a major Germany news agency, filed for bankruptcy protection.

German publishers already are getting some government support: A measure is headed through the legislature to force search engines to pay for links that include excerpts of content.

And in Italy, publishers say they are willing to risk leaving Google if the search engine refuses to pay, citing a study that indicates that clicks from Italian readers would drop by 6 or 7 per cent — “a very low percentage,” said Isabella Splendore, lawyer for the Italian Newspaper Publishers Federation.

The European publishers insist they are not trying to keep readers from getting information, but that they deserve compensation for use of their intellectual property.

But Jeremie Zimmerman, of the French Internet liberty group the Quadrature of the Net, described engaging in the dispute with Google as “idiotic.”.

“It shows that the industry hasn’t understood anything about the Internet and is fundamentally conservative about its future, and defending private interests rather than adapting to technology,” he said.

Emma Llanso of the Washington based Center for Democracy and Technology said that, at least for now, the dispute among governments, Google and publishers is a loss for readers.

“When we’re looking at the free flow of information online, how much relevance do national boundaries have?”.

We think we are seeing a lot of national governments struggling to think of what they want it to be.

___ Associated Press writers Bradley Brooks in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Frances D’Emilio in Rome contributed to this report.

LONDON (Reuters) – European shares were steady near a one month high and Asian stocks surged on Thursday, as a slew of Chinese data boosted optimism over the health of the world economy.

A slew of Chinese data, including quarterly growth numbers, adds weight to what observers have been saying for weeks – that the slowdown in the economy may have bottomed.

The signs of a steadier footing in China’s economy coupled with recent good news from the United States on jobs have reassured investors that actions taken by the world’s major central banks to boost activity are taking effect.

“There’s definitely been a shift in investor sentiment towards the positive,” said Richard Hunter, head of UK equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.

But the better mood was being held in check by worries about progress on measures to tackle Europe’s three year old debt crisis, as leaders from the 27 nation European Union gather in Brussels for a two day summit.

FTEU3 index of top European shares was barely changed at around 1119.15 points but was still holding close to its best levels in nearly a month.

The same was true of London’s FTSE 100, the French CAC 40 and Frankfurt’s DAX, which were all stuck in narrow ranges near Wednesday’s closing levels.

European leaders will try to bridge deep differences over plans for a banking union at their summit on Thursday, but no substantial decisions are expected, while moves to help Spain, Greece and Cyprus may only come at a finance ministers’ meeting next month, officials have told Reuters.

Spain remains the most immediate focus of concerns, with the market expecting it to formally ask for assistance from the European Union very shortly, clearing the way for the region’s central bank to begin buying its bonds.

The euro was slightly lower ahead of the summit at $1.3095, having risen to $1.3140 on Wednesday, a level not seen since mid September.

“We are expecting some more upside in the euro as investors seem to get comfortable with the timeline about when Spain will seek a bailout and the ECB’s bond buying will be triggered,” said Beat Siegenthaler, currency strategist at UBS.

The expectation that help for Spain is not far away underpinned demand for Spanish debt, already boosted by Moody’s decision on Tuesday to affirm the country’s investment grade credit rating, at an auction on Thursday of 4.6 billion euros of fresh debt.

CHINA RELIEFMeanwhile, growth and commodity sensitive assets were seeing good gains on the latest batch of Chinese figures.

China’s third quarter GDP meanwhile, grew 7.4 percent from a year earlier, the slowest quarterly pace since the first quarter of 2009.

The Australian dollar, which is highly correlated to China’s economic performance, touched a two week high of $1.0397 after the data, and last traded at $1.0380.

“The data for September suggests China’s economy likely bottomed in July August and is set to recover, and this will help ease fears about further downside risks to the Chinese economy,” said Hirokazu Yuihama, a senior strategist at Daiwa Securities.

“There aren’t clear signs that demand from China is picking up, but sentiment for commodities is improving, and this should eventually support growth sensitive assets,” he said.

Even the dollar rose, touching a one month high of 79.22 yen, after data on Wednesday showed the US housing market improved sharply in September, leaving the Japanese currency to take the brunt of investor selling.

Among commodities, Brent crude oil was up about 10 cents a barrel at $113.32, with geopolitical worries in the Middle East supporting prices.

Spot gold was trading nearly flat at $1,750 an ounce as investors preferred to wait for the outcome of the EU summit.

BEIJING (Reuters) – A once in a decade leadership change in Beijing offers a chance to make much needed market access reforms, a European business lobby said on Thursday, warning that China’s failure to do so could put at risk sustained growth of its state led economy.

China will hold its Party Congress this autumn to usher in anew generation of leaders as President Hu Jintao and Premier WenJiabao prepare to step aside.

The Chinese chamber of commerce thatmonitors trade in solar energy products called for collaborationbetween the Asian nation and the European Union as tradeconflicts escalated.

And the readiness of European business to invest in these sectors perfectly matches the need for further development in China,” he said.. However, he also expressed concern that foreign companies would not be treated equally, regarding subsidies, financing and intellectual property rights.. “Foreign enterprises are facing more opportunities and brighter prospects in China by fully utilizing China’s opening up policy and the country’s diversified market.

“We believe that there is a higher sense of urgency. And themain reason for that is the global economic climate, and thefact that China’s exporters are under pressure,” EuropeanChamber Secretary General Dirk Moens told Reuters.

China’s trade partners watched in both awe and dismay as thecountry’s state led economic model fuelled decades of breakneckgrowth, while hobbling foreign firms looking to compete forstate financing and enter strategic industries.

Investors are nervously eyeing China’s domestic policy mixas external demand for the country’s factory goods sinks withits biggest customer, the European Union, mired in sovereigndebt and recession risks.

Important institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank.

The European Chamber, which represents 1, 7 00 members, manyfrom the 27 EU countries, said fulfilling promises to openpreviously closed markets to foreign competition can increaseinnovation and spur another wave of growth.

MARKETS “OUT OF BOUNDS”Despite Europe’s open market, China’s public procurementmarket still is “largely out of bounds” for foreign companies,the European Chamber paper said.

A 2011 report by the Chamber said China’s annual market forbids on public projects accounts for about 20 percent of thecountry’s GDP, more than $1 trillion in projects, most atinaccessible local and regional government levels.

EU companies also have been frustrated by what they call”raw deals”, having to form joint ventures with Chinesecompanies and offer technology licensing in return for marketaccess.

The European Chamber welcomed the Chinese government’sefforts to allow foreign firms greater leeway to comment onregulations, but noted that new laws are often linked to thedemands of state owned corporations and interest groups.

“If the regulatory system is intertwined in this way, it isimpossible to get rid of the state led model,” European ChamberPresident Davide Cucino said.

The EU has stepped up its fight against what it sees asChina’s unfair trade practices, challenging Chinese subsidiesand looking into complaints of cheap credit to Chinese firms.

An imposition of new tariffs on Chinese solar panels by the EU would be another blow to these already weakened companies.

“The way that China goes about changes is feeling the stonesto cross the river,” Secretary General Moens said, citing asaying made famous by the country’s market economy reformistDeng Xiaoping.

LONDON, Aug 9 (Reuters) – European shares neared their highsfor the year on Thursday and oil prices rose after Chineseeconomic data kept alive talk that central banks will ride tothe rescue again, five years after the financial crisis began.

Eighty two percent ofrespondents said that within two years banks will need anotherlong term refinancing operation similar to those in which theEuropean Central Bank pumped more than 1 trillion euros ($1.23trillion) into the financial system, Fitch said.

Europe’s stock markets began their latest rally two weeks ago when ECB President Mario Draghi said the central bank was “ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro”, raising hopes of bold steps to help lower the borrowing costs of Spain and Italy.

It was only last week that he made a promise to safeguard the euro and added that the central bank would adopt any means necessary to achieve this course of action.

The drop in European shares was complemented by greater demand for German government bonds – traditionally favored by risk averse investors.

“There’s been a bit of risk off … and we’re following US Treasuries higher, but agenda wise things are quiet. We could go sideways till we get into September. There’s no supply next week that might give us some support,” a trader said.

The euro – the key barometer of faith in the euro zone’s ability to overcome its debt problems – was down at $1.228, 1.3 percent off its peak of the week.

Commodity markets took their cue from the Chinese data and the prospects of further central bank action.

However, according to two sources affiliated with the central bank, no formal vote had been cast at Thursday’s assembly and Draghi was simply attempting to separate Weidmann.

Brent crude eased 36 cents or 0.3 percent to $112.86 a barrel, and US crude inched down 0.2 percent to $93.16 a barrel.

BRUSSELS, July 20 (Reuters) – Euro zone finance ministersare expected to approve an agreement on Friday to lend up to 100billion euros to Spain so it can recapitalise its banks, but theexact size of the loan will probably only be determined inSeptember.

Oil prices also eased after hitting an eight week peak on supply concerns linked to rising Middle East tension, but the rally in soft commodities, which has seen corn and soybean prices soar to record highs, showed no signs of abating.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European companies was down 0.3 percent at 1,061.44 in early trade, after closing at its highest level since early April on Thursday, helped by a robust start to second quarter earnings season.

Gradual moves by euro zone authorities to tackle the region’s debt crisis and hopes central banks will ease policy to boost global growth have also improved sentiment in equity markets since the beginning of June.

“we do see profit taking coming in sooner rather than later. we don’t see how the UK and European markets can keep ignoring Spanish bond yields at above seven percent,” said JN Financial senior trader Adrian Redmond.

The euro fell 0.2 percent against the dollar to $1.2253, staying above a two year low of $1.2162.

Euro zone finance ministers are expected to finally sign off on a deal to bail out Spain’s banks with up to 100 billion euros but the exact amount will probably not be known until September.

The impending bank bailout was not having much impact on Spanish bonds, with the 10 year debt yield remaining near an unsustainable high 7.0 percent level although a rise in financial stocks lifted Spain’s IBEX .

BEIJING — China on Thursday criticised Europe’s refusal to ease two longtime trade restrictions as “discrimination”, following a high level meeting between the two sides this week.

China has repeatedly sought to end an embargo on arms sales imposed after the deadly 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on democracy protesters.

It has similarly pushed to be granted full “market economy status”, a designation that would lift bans on certain Chinese exports and investments.

Many Europeans fear that the money comes with strings attached, particularly where sensitive Chinese issues, such as Tibet, human rights, and its imperfect market economy are concerned.

“We believe that the two issues are actually an embodiment of the discrimination against China by the European side,” Hua Chunying, a foreign ministry councillor handling European affairs, told reporters.

“If the European side can take a small step forward in solving these two issues, then we can make a major step forward in enhancing mutual trust.”.

China and Europe have have locked horns over a series of trade issues in recent years, even as Europe has sought Chinese support in overcoming its debt crisis.

Some of these issues were raised during the third annual EU China Strategic Dialogue held in Beijing this week, although both sides emphasised at the end of the talks that they were held in good spirit and helped build ties.

China is due to be granted market economy status in 2016 regardless, having agreed on a 15 year delay when it joined the World Trade Organization.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last year called on European nations to show their “friendship” by granting the status sooner.

But some European leaders say that China does not yet qualify, since most of its biggest companies are state owned and their leaders are selected by the government.

US stock index futures rose on Tuesday, indicating the S&P 500 may rebound from sharp losses in the prior session, but gains were muted after a Spanish bill auction met with falling demand.

Japanese and Australian stockfutures fell on speculation a meeting of European Union leadersthis week will fail to check the region’s debt crisis.

Spain’s short term borrowing costs nearly tripled at auction when the country sold 3.08 billion euros of its short term debt, as the Treasury paid the highest rates to sell the paper since November.

Finance chiefs of the euro zone’s four biggest economies will hold last minute talks in Paris on Tuesday evening to discuss managing the crisis in the short term and proposals for closer long term fiscal and banking integration in preparation for the summit later in the week.

According to a document prepared for the meeting, European leaders will discuss specific steps toward a cross border banking union, closer fiscal integration and the possibility of a debt redemption fund.

“The market is going to pay attention and listen to any chatter that comes out over the next couple of days about what they think is going to come out of the summit,” said Ken Polcari, managing director at ICAP Equities in New York.

European shares were up slightly, with the FTSEurofirst 300 index adding 0.1 percent.

Cyprus became the latest euro zone member to ask for an aid package on Monday, adding to concerns about European leaders’ ability to handle the crisis.

S&P 500 futures rose 1.2 points and were slightly above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract.

Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 35 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 10.5 points.

Economic data on tap includes S&P/Case Shiller Home Price indexes for April, at 9 a.m.

Economists in a Reuters survey expect the seasonally adjusted 20 city index to rise 0.4 percent versus a 0.1 percent increase in the previous month.

Economists in a Reuters survey expect the main index to read 63.5 compared with 64.9 in May.

Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp is thinking of splitting into two companies, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.

Asian shares fell as investors remained skeptical that the EU summit would yield any substantive measures to solve the region’s protracted debt crisis, now in its third year.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Padraic Cassidy).

Unless European leaders could make acredible case that a Greek exit was an exceptional and isolatedincident, depositors in other nations might decide to withdraweuros from banks or shift them to countries seen as safer.

TheHellenic Financial Stability Fund said late yesterday itapproved terms of the recapitalization and the contract would besent today to the lenders and the European Financial StabilityFacility for final approval.

No action is expected ahead of the event, but it’s quite possible that the SNB may mention steps such as capital controls or a charge on sight deposits the cash commercial banks hold with the central bank.

Given our view that under the current deleveraging trend growth in the United States is unlikely to be better than 2%, if the fiscal drag were to occur, we believe a double dip recession becomes much more likely.

The prospect of Greece leaving the 17 nation euro regionincreased after parties opposed to the terms of the nation’ssecond bailout by the European Union and the InternationalMonetary Fund won most of the votes in May 6 elections.

The proposal would include a single deposit guarantee organization covering all banks in the union, something similar to the FDIC that covers US bank depositsThe summit largely focused on boosting a sluggish global recovery threatened by a possible collapse of the euro currency union.

That would mean three things: a European banking union complete with Europe wide deposit insurance, the recapitalization of ailing banks with funds from the new European Stability Mechanism, and some kind of scheme to convert part of national debts into euro bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the EU.

European leaders are moving with a “heightened sense of urgency” to address the continent’s financial problems, according to Obama.

For the first time since the crisis began inNovember 2009, European leaders and central bankers are speakingopenly of Greece abandoning the currency union.

Image via CrunchBaseThe survey indicates, in our estimation, that American bloggers are more professionally oriented, serious bloggers.

Just 40 percent of European bloggers have.94 percent of Americans blog about brands or companies while only 52 percent of our counterparts doOnly 11 percent of European bloggers say they blog for their company while 43 percent of Americans do34 percent of US bloggers earn something for their activity compared to just 25 percent in EuropeHalf of European bloggers receive nothing, not even gifts in kind for their activities.

Just 13 percent of American bloggers say the samePerhaps the most shocking statistic from the findings for us what that just 32 percent of European bloggers say they use their actual identify when blogging.

Well cover this more on Wednesday as we dive a bit deeper into the transparency issue.

European bloggers overwhelmingly blog for the passion of their blog topic.

And some 98 percent of US bloggers are members of Twitter while just 49 percent of European bloggers are.

Conversely, 45 percent of European bloggers have a dedicated Facebook page for their blog while only four percent of American bloggers do.

What all this tells us, in our brief analysis, is that the American blogging scene is far more mature than that in Europe, if you consider transparency, commercialization and traffic minded promotion is mature.

Europeans seem to lean toward more hobby and passion bloggers and much more of a pure play social approach to blogging … sharing contact and connection on Facebook (people you know) versus Twitter (people you dont know).

The total number of national minority populations in Europe is estimated at 105 million people, or 14% of 770 million Europeans.

If you are, what we might recommend is the following:Be even more selective and careful approaching bloggers for sponsorships, promotions and advertisingFacebook first, Twitter maybe not at allLifestyle programming (think mom bloggers, hobby bloggers) is going to go over easier than straight business contentMonitor various governing laws on disclosure and privacyThats what we see.

Any of you European marketers or bloggers out there see the same things or is our lack of direct market exposure showing through.

Dont miss two days of intensive learning with some of the leading thinkers and practitioners in the digital marketing and social media marketing space.

Join SMEs Jason Falls and Nichole Kelly, The Now Revolution co author Jay Baer, Edison Researchs Tom Webster, Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman, Lee Odden, Kipp Bodnar and more at one of the leading digital and social media marketing events of 2012, August 16 17 in Minneapolis, Minn.

A $125 billion plan to rescue Spain’s banks won’t solve Europe’s debt crisis or ease the pain of double digit unemployment across the continent.

So the plan unveiled Saturday eases pressure on the United States and the rest of the world economy as well.

The European rescue fund is now sizableabout 700 billionbut not as much as the US and IMF had urged, a problem that could be disastrous if Greece exits the euro zone.

Spain said it would ask the European Union forfinancial aid of up to 100 billion euros ($125 billion) for its ailing banks.

Far harder to calculate are the costs if, after Greek elections next Sunday, the new government reneges on the bailout Greece negotiated with its European lenders a few months ago.

Greece’s departure from the Eurozone would likely cause financial chaos across Europe: Greek debts would go from being denominated in sturdy euros to being denominated in Greek drachmas of dubious value.

At 11 percent, unemployment in the euro zone is at the highest level since the single currency was introduced in 1999.

What is more, the Spanish bailout will do little to address European banks’ addiction to the borrowed money they have depended on for their daily financing needs.

The fund would then use the money to strengthen the Spanish banks’ capital, their bulwark against loan losses.

“The way the currency union has been functioning is not sustainable,” Jens Weidmann, the president of the German Bundesbank, told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

“A breakup of the currency union would bring extremely high costs and risks that no one can really predict.”.

TOKYO, June 11 (Reuters) – Japan’s Nikkei share average isset to rise on Monday after euro zone finance ministers agreedon loans to Spain to help its battered banks, easing fearsEurope’s financial crisis would escalate.

Important institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, and the European Central Bank.

“Because the decisions to be made at, and immediately after, the forthcoming elections will determine the country’s future for at least the next decade.”.

That would likely cause far more pain for Europe than the financial messes in Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

When the market found out that weak Spanish banks used the money to buy its government debt, Spain’s relative recent calm was exposed as a sham, and turmoil followed.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy cautioned that the ailing Spanish economy, Europe’s fourth largest, which has had an unemployment rate of nearly 25 percent, would worsen before getting better.

COMCurrent DateTime: 12:15:22 11 Jun 2012LinksList Documentid: 22528753WorldPoliticsBusinessAnd it may not end there, with Italy struggling with economic stagnation and escalating borrowing costs.

A critical question will be how Saturday’s deal will be received by investors on Monday, particularly with the Greek elections approaching.

“By no means is this a solution,” said Adam Parker, chief United States equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.

The aid for Spain “could be a near term positive from a trading standpoint, but you haven’t solved anything in the long term.”.

The next task for European leaders is to show the rest of the world that they are making a credible effort to repair the flaws in the euro zone that allowed the problems in one small country, Greece, to threaten the world economy.

Greece spent most of their history in relative obscurity, having participated only twice in the final tournaments of the FIFA World Cup and the UEFA European Championship, in 1994 and 1980 respectively, until UEFA Euro 2004, when they became European champions in only their second participation in the tournament.

On June 28 and 29, European Union leaders will gather in Brussels to discuss, among other things, ways to forge closer fiscal integration.

Despite calls from some leaders for shared oversight of budgets and deficit spending, no concrete proposals have been made.

Even if Greece ends up with a government willing to try to live up to the terms of its 130 billion euro bailout deal by meeting its payments and striving to narrow its wide budget gap, strong doubts remain whether any new leadership in Athens can fulfill those obligations.

In Greece, voters could elect a government next week that will refuse to live up to the terms of the country’s $170 billion rescue package.

A lot of private money has already fled Greece, while its deeply depressed economy and dwindling tax revenues threaten to put the country even deeper in the hole.

“Even in case of a new government, we doubt whether the institutional framework in Greece can guarantee the program,” said Jürgen Stark, a former member of the European Central Bank’s executive board.

Some euro zone countries are pushing for a European equivalent of America’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which guarantees deposits in US banks and manages bank bankruptcies.

In the past, the euro zone has done just enough to calm the market.

With Greeks about to go to the polls again this year and Spain securing its bailout before they do, the lines are being drawn for what could be a make or break week for the euro zone.

Although Berlin has been Greece’s harshest economic critic, Germans awoke last Thursday to find Angela Merkel, their chancellor, telling them on television that Europe needed a fiscal union—implying that some of their tax dollars may be needed to help the suffering Spaniards and Greeks.

More on CNBC.comCurrent DateTime: 12:15:23 11 Jun 2012LinksList Documentid: 47761186The ‘Spailout’ May Not Work: StiglitzMarkets Get a ‘Spailout’.

“We do not only need a monetary union, but we also need a so called fiscal union. This means that we also need a common budgetary policy, and we also need a political union.”.

Merkel quickly played down the prospect of a “big bang” solution coming from the gathering in Brussels—but Germans may be realizing that their own well being is in imminent danger.

This week official data will provide more clues about how the crisis is affecting Europe’s largest countries.

In remarks clearly designed to influence euro zone officials ahead of their weekend talks, he devoted much of his attention to Europe’s troubles.

Figures on industrial production in France and Italy are expected Monday and for the euro zone as a whole Wednesday.

Outside help is necessary, which could exhaust all the bailout money that the euro zone countries have recently put together.

The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.

But slower growth in Germany could also create a political backlash, making Germans more reluctant to help their stricken fellow euro zone citizens.

“If people think they are poorer maybe they become more reluctant to share the burden,” said Clemens Fuest, economics professor at Oxford University.

Mr Fuest said he was skeptical that Europeans would ever agree to delegate control over their national budgets to a European authority as part of a fiscal union.

European leaders would be better off concentrating on measures that are more realistic, he said, like a common system for overseeing banks, guaranteeing deposits and dealing with sick financial institutions.

Other US guidance, such as advice on European bank stress tests, also wasn’t implemented as delivered, resulting in stress tests that failed to convince markets the banks were strong enough to withstand greater financial turmoil.

That could help avoid situations like those in Ireland, Cyprus or now Spain, where the cost of bank rescues raises doubts about the solvency of the national government.

The deterioration of Spain’s banks and the pressing need for a rescue was threatening to bankrupt its government.

Many proposals to push members of the European Union closer together would take years to carry out, too late to help ease current tensions.

The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993.

Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, said last week that it would help a lot if European leaders simply wrote a detailed plan for the future of the euro zone.

SINGAPORE, June 11 (Reuters) – Asian currencies surged onMonday, with the Malaysian ringgit climbing more than 1 percentat one point, as the euro zone’s agreement to lend Spain up to100 billion euros eased investors’ jitters about Europe’ssovereign debt crisis.

“The very fact of having an objective, a goal, an end point and a clear path would, by itself, contribute to a stabilization of the financial situation in Europe,” Mr Draghi said at a news conference.

How much time he and other leaders have to chart such a path may depend on what Greek voters decide.

“The Greek government, when one is formed, must send a clear signal that it is prepared to implement the reforms that have been agreed to,” Mr Weidmann, the Bundesbank president, told ARD on Sunday.