Europe speaks German now! Controversial claim from Merkel ally that EU countries all follow Berlin's lead - and Britain should fall into line

• Britain must be 'less selfish' toward the EU
• UK has a duty to help the eurozone - despite being outside the single currency

Berlin declared last night that Europe is speaking German and Britain must be less selfish toward the EU.
The UK has a duty to help the eurozone despite being outside the single currency, according to one of Angela Merkel’s closest allies.
Even more provocatively, Volker Kauder warned Britain could not block a financial tax that would cost the City billions.

Warning: Volker Kauder (left), one of Angela Merkel's closest allies, said Britain could not block a financial tax that would cost the City billions

He insisted it was wrong for London to defend its own interests, adding: ‘Only going after their own benefit, and refusing to contribute, is not the message we’re letting the British get away with.’
He said European nations were speaking German in that they were backing Chancellor Merkel’s diktats.
The comments will cause fury among senior Conservatives, who say Germany’s refusal to prop up the euro threatens to drag the UK economy down as well.

 

‘British people will be horrified by what is going on in Europe,’ said Philip Hollobone, a Eurosceptic Tory MP.
‘Foreign policy going back to the time of Henry VIII has been to try to prevent conglomeration of power on the continent of Europe which would be against British national interests.
‘Here we are in the 21st century with a German attempt to create a single economic and political bloc. This is Britain’s golden chance to get out of the European quagmire and set ourselves free.’

Controversial: David Cameron with Angela Merkel. The comments will cause fury among senior Conservatives

No signs of abating: The economic turmoil in the eurozone continues to cause deep concern

 
Meanwhile, the economic turmoil that has gripped Europe shows no sign of going away.
The interest rate Italy has to pay to finance its vast debts topped 7 per cent again yesterday – despite a change that saw a technocratic government replace Silvio Berlusconi’s administration.
Such payments are seen as unsustainable and have triggered bailouts in Ireland, Portugal and Greece.
Spain was unable to borrow the full £3billion it needed from the money markets yesterday and was charged 5 per cent interest for supposedly risk-free, 12-month loans.

Attack: Nick Clegg criticised David Cameron's suggestion that the crisis gave the UK an opportunity to take powers from Brussels

The gap between French and German government bond yields reached record levels – revealing fears about Paris’s exposure to debts elsewhere.
But Mr Kauder, parliamentary leader of Mrs Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union party, insisted EU governments were backing Germany’s push for closer integration of their economies in response to the turmoil.
He said there was now widespread support for strict limits on debt levels in eurozone economies, with sanctions applied to any that step out of line. ‘Now, all of a sudden, Europe is speaking German,’ declared Mr Kauder.
‘Not as a language, but in its acceptance of the instruments for which Angela Merkel has fought so hard.’ He said Britain must be less self-centred in its relationship with Europe.
‘The British are not members of the currency union but they are members of Europe and they also have a responsibility for the success of Europe,’ he told the annual congress of Mrs Merkel’s CDU in Leipzig.
On the proposed City financial transactions tax, he said: ‘The British don’t  want this and I understand, when 30 per cent of your gross domestic product comes from the financial market business in the City of London.’
The row flared as the pro-EU Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg attacked David Cameron’s suggestion that the crisis gave the UK an opportunity to take powers from Brussels.
The Prime Minister used his annual foreign policy speech at the Lord Mayor of London’s banquet on Monday night to insist that the crisis in the eurozone provided an opportunity for the EU be refashioned as a looser union.

 

Posted in: World news