Merz Pledges New Bid With France to End Capital-Markets Impasse

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he’ll launch a new push with France to try to break a deadlock on a decade-old European Union effort to deepen the bloc’s capital markets and improve access to funding for companies.

The conservative leader, who took charge of Europe’s biggest economy a month ago, told a business forum in Berlin Friday that the EU has been focusing too much on “liability regimes and deposit insurance.”