BRUSSELS — For the past year and a half, Germany has supported debt-ridden neighbors with billions of euros in bailout funds and extra credit while sailing through the crisis relatively unscathed.
Now, with stock markets tanking, the currency union’s largest member is starting to feel the pain of a slowing European and global economy, as German companies see waning demand for their exports.
Since July 22, the day after euro-zone leaders decided to give their bailout fund new powers but refused to expand its size, Germany’s main stock index, the DAX, has lost 19 percent.
That’s worse than the 13 percent drop in the FTSE 100 in the U.K. or the 17 percent dive taken by the French CAC-40.
But Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government seems unwilling to take a bigger role in fighting the debt crisis. Berlin has ruled out boosting the size of the bailout fund. The Associated Press
