He has secured a more business-friendly finance minister, in the shape of Hans Eichel.

ECONOMIST: Schr?der��s struggle

Hans Eichel, a former premier of the state of Hesse, became Germany's finance minister after Oskar Lafontaine resigned.

ECONOMIST: Heads roll

Hans Eichel, a former finance minister, suggests instead a lending facility with IMF-style conditions run by the European Commission.

ECONOMIST: Germany

Mr Welteke has crossed swords with Hans Eichel, the finance minister, on the budget deficit which he wants reduced and on gold.

ECONOMIST: A tussle over the integrity of a once-great central bank

Since then, the dull but dogged Hans Eichel has succeeded in steadying the economy and pointing it in the right direction.

ECONOMIST: Has Gerhard got it?

German Finance Minister Hans Eichel said that Mr Wolfowitz is a "high level candidate, but there needs to be more discussions before" his election to the post of the development agency.

BBC: NEWS | UK | UK Politics | Straw defends Wolfowitz bank plan

Hans Eichel, the finance minister, portrays all this not as an increase in taxes but as a closing of loopholes and cutting of subsidies making the tax system more efficient, you see.

ECONOMIST: German business

"It is absolutely essential that no state aid is given before it is authorised - if it is authorised - by the European Commission, " Mr Monti said after meetings with Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Finance Minister Hans Eichel.

BBC: EU to examine Holzmann rescue