Soros bets against Euro

[Jan Klimkowski]

Exit polls are suggesting that Merkel's party has lost its majority in North Rhine-Westphalia.

From Reuters:

May 9 2010

Chancellor Angela Merkel's centre-right coalition parties failed to retain their majority in a state vote on Sunday, an exit poll showed, robbing her government of a majority in the upper house of parliament.

An exit poll by ARD television put Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) on 34.5 percent and their Free Democrat (FDP) allies on 6.5 percent, short of a majority and leaving the make up of North Rhine-Westphalia's next government unclear.

The CDU and FDP have ruled in the state -- Germany's most populous -- since 2005, when they won 44.8 percent and 6.2 percent of the vote respectively.

Their loss of a majority in the state -- and as a consequence in the federal upper house -- means Merkel will have to rely on opposition parties for support for her policy programme, which includes tax cuts, health reform and extending the lives of some nuclear power plants.

But she really lost for promising German financial support for the Greek bailout.