"The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid," a senior European source said. Three other euro zone senior euro zone sources confirmed the shift in the Spanish position, all speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the matter.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said Spain is taking all the right steps to overcome its fiscal problems and does not need a bailout, arguing that investors will recognise and reward Spanish reforms in due course.

Privately, several European diplomats and a senior German source said Chancellor Angela Merkel preferred to avoid putting more individual bailouts for distressed euro zone countries to her increasingly reluctant parliament.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Currency Markets • Euro • European Central Bank • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Europe • --European Sovereign Debt Crisis of 2010 • Germany • Spain

1. AnglicanFirst wrote: In the long run, only Spain can “bail out” Spain.  Anything coming from other nations will be a drink of “the hair of the dog that bit me the night before” which only provides short term alleviation of a chronic dependency on social entitlements that Spain cannot afford to pay for on its own. And this will require a dramatic shift in Spanish attitudes towards entitlements and what entitlements the people of Spain can afford and how to pay for them. October 2, 8:19 am | [comment link]

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