Merkel: must preserve unity in debt crisis

FRANKFURT, Germany — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says it’s “worth every effort” to preserve European unity in the debt crisis, but insists troubled countries are still responsible for tackling their own problems.

Merkel said Thursday it is “completely clear” that Germany, the continent’s biggest economy, has a “duty and responsibility to make its contribution to securing the euro’s future.”

But in a speech opening the Frankfurt Auto Show, she renewed her insistence that stabilizing the currency union will be a step-by-step process and “won’t happen overnight or with any one-time thunderbolt” — once again firmly rejecting the idea of so-called eurobonds, debt backed jointly by all 17 eurozone nations.

Merkel insists “everyone must do their homework” to improve their own competitiveness.