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Updated Tuesday, November 15, 2011 0:37 am TWN, By Philip Pullella and Harry Papachristou, Reuters



	German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during the German Christian Democrats Party convention in Leipzig, Germany, Monday, Nov. 14. Germany's chancellor says the European Union must be strengthened to overcome the bloc's debt crisis, which she calls “may be Europe's most difficult hour since World War II.” AP Enlarge Photo

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Europe could be in worst hour since WWII: Merkel

ROME/ATHENS--German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday that Europe could be living through its toughest hour since World War II as new leaders in Italy and Greece rushed to form governments and limit the damage from the eurozone debt crisis.

Financial markets on Monday took heart on relief that a key Italian bond auction drew decent demand from investors and hopes that new leaders in Greece and Italy would take decisive action to breathe new life into their sick economies.

“Europe is in one of its toughest, perhaps the toughest hour since World War II,” Merkel told her conservative party in Leipzig, saying she feared Europe would fail if the euro failed and vowing to do anything to stop this from happening.

But in a one-hour address to the Christian Democrats (CDU), Merkel offered no new ideas for resolving the crisis that has forced bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, and has raised fears about the survival of the 17-state currency zone.

“If the euro fails then Europe fails, and we want to prevent and we will prevent this, this is what we are working for, because it is such a huge historical project,” Merkel said in the east German city of Leipzig.

In high drama in Rome, the president of Italy asked former European commissioner Mario Monti on Sunday to form a government to restore market confidence in an economy whose debt burden is too big for the euro bloc to bail out.

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