EUROZONE: Merkel Relents...Supports Italy's Draghi For ECB; Finland Wins Changes To Support Portugal.

M.PRESS/  Poor version of  Thursday Re-post

     Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel finally supported Italian central banker Mario Draghi...as the next president of the ECB...to replace after eight-years Jean-Claude Trichet, whose term ends in October.
    Germany is the last of the big 4 EU nations to endorse Draghi.
    On 26 April, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told PM Berlusconi that he would back an Italian.

AND: 
    A parliamentary committee allowed Finland's outgoing FM Jyrki Katainen (pictured) to support a Portugal bailout at 16 May meeting.
     Portugal needs 78bn euros $111bn in loans from the EU and IMF.
    Finland is the only country that requires its parliament to approve the bail-out package.
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13394004

EUROZONE /GERMANY: 12 Feb UPDATE: After Weber Stiffs Merkel on EU Bank Job, She Freezes Him Out.

NYTIMES/  J. Ewing, S. Castle /
Combined 2 Screen Read /

   Axel Weber, 53, the current president of the German central bank, and once the presumed top candidate to succeed Jean-Claude Trichet at the European Central Bank, unexpectedly renounced seeking the position, reportedly enraging Chancellor Angela Merkel.
   Weber also announced that he would quit the Bundesbank at the end of April.
    He cites"personal reason" for his sudden departure.
   Weber was considered an inflation hard-liner and many outside Germany  preferred a more moderate chief.   He also reportedly alienated many ECB colleagues.
   Weber was considered a trusted Merkel ally. But no more. The WSJ claims that with the Chancellor scorned, she has now frozen him out.
   His likely departure is being met with relief “not among the Germans, but every country from Italy to Greece, probably,” said  economist Marco Valli. “The French are not particularly sad.”
   Speculation now centers on Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy.
   But the German newspaper BILD headlined:“Mama Mia! Please, not this Italian!” and wrote: “In Italy, inflation is as much a part of life as tomato sauce and pasta.”