- German Chancellor Angela Merkel
German Chancellor Angela Merkel put an end to speculations of a possible post-election alliance with her main opposition Social Democratic Party, as the latest poll results are showing Merkel in a position to reprise her current coalition after elections. Later this week both candidates- Angela Merkel and the leader of SPD Peer Steinbrueck will step up their campaigning rallying across the country just five weeks before the elections, which will determine who will be in power of Europe's biggest economy during the next four years. Also this week Merkel dismissed any suggestions she might step down before completing third term as German Chancellor in case her party is victorious. According to latest poll results, support for Merkel's coalition dropped one percentage point to 40%, while the Free Democrats gained a point to 6%, a combined tally that would allow a rerun of the current government.
In a separate report the Bank of Spain said that Spanish banks' bad loans as a percentage of total credit soared to a fresh high in June, as more households and small companies struggle with debts. The overall bad debt ratio reached 11.6% in June, up from 11.2% a month earlier, and the figure has been steadily increasing since a drop-off at the end of 2012, when lenders transferred their property assets to the country's so-called bad banks.
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