<blockquote>'Germany’s shrinking joblessness is helping Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government meet a constitutionally imposed deficit ceiling in 2015, a year earlier than planned. Merkel plans to tout Germany’s belt-tightening at two European Union summits this month that aim to staunch the financial crisis that has forced Ireland and Greece to seek bailouts.
All European countries must take budget cutting “just as seriously as we do in Germany,” bolstering competitiveness to “maintain the confidence of financial markets” in the euro, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said yesterday in a speech.'
- Brian Parkin and Christian Vits,
Germany's Unemployment Shrinks Three Times as Fast as Economists Estimated, 2011-03-01</blockquote>