Germany will not tolerate "deliberate evasion" of the European Stability Pact by other eurozone members, Chancellor Angela Merkel warned in Berlin Thursday hours ahead of a crunch EU summit, according to dpa. She said Greece had already done so and she was determined that the opportunity to do so never arose again. Merkel was making a formal statement of government policy to the Bundestag parliament in Berlin, ahead of flying to Brussels. She said the stability pact, the basis for the common currency, was not designed for such evasion. The member states should not "toy" with European stability, she added, and demanded that all eurozone nations bring their fiscal deficits into conformity with the ceiling set out in the pact. "We cannot afford to water down the Stability Pact. No trickery can be allowed," she said. The EU summit was to begin later Thursday in Brussels. -- SPA
