Merkel Cancels EFSF Speech to German Assembly, Lawmakers Say

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a planned speech to parliament in Berlin tomorrow because of a deadlock over proposals to leverage the European Financial Stability Facility to give it more firepower, three German lawmakers said.

“It’s a disappointing development but without any concrete proposal for increasing the efficiency of the fund the chancellor can’t present a complete set of proposals tomorrow,” Norbert Barthle the ranking member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party on parliament’s budget committee, told reporters. Other lawmakers confirming cancelation of Merkel’s speech were opposition members Carsten Schneider and Priska Hinz.