Monti and Merkel meet for talks

Italian prime minister Mario Monti and German chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting in Rome for talks today.

Italian prime minister Mario Monti and German chancellor Angela Merkel are meeting in Rome for talks today.

They will discuss the EU summit and German-Italian economic co-operation.

Long-term bailout critics in Dr Merkel's ruling coalition have accused her of setting Germany on an irreversible path to pooled euro zone liability, with Berlin ultimately picking up the tab.

Dr Merkel has insisted that concessions to Italy and Spain on banking debt at the recent EU summit had not severed the "legal connection between [EU] solidity and solidarity".

The German leader's early morning concession last weekend cleared the way for EU leader-agreement on growth measures.

She knew that returning to Berlin without such a package could have jeopardised the two treaty ratification votes, requiring a two-thirds cross-party majority to change the constitution.