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WHITE HOUSE SAYS WILL EXAMINE "RISK CORRIDOR" PROGRAM THAT SHARES RISKS OF NEW SYSTEM WITH INSURERS TO SEE IF TWEAKS NEEDED FOR 2014 DUE TO NEW FIX

BRUSSELS—German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said transferring more powers to EU institutions rather than increasing the size of the eurozone's future bailout fund is the way to overcome the euro crisis. "We have said right from the start that we want to stand up for the euro, but what we don't want is a situation where we are forced to promise something that we will not be able to fulfil," Merkel said Wednesday (25 January) in the opening speech of the World Economic Forum, an informal gathering of leaders and business magnates held every year in Davos, a Swiss mountain...

BRUSSELS—The Eurozone's bailout fund was downgraded by one notch to AA+ by the US ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Monday (16 January)—a move likely to put an extra financial burden on contributing nations, many of whom were themselves downgraded last week. Designed to fund the rescue packages for Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) owed its triple A rating to guarantees from eurozone countries, two of which—France and Austria—saw their own top rating cut by one notch on Friday, along with other countries further down the ratings ladder. “The EFSF’s obligations are no longer fully...