Spain ready for bailout,Germany signals wait

The Spanish were a bit hesitant but now they are ready to request aid, a senior European source said. Three other 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.

It doesnt make sense to send looming decisions on Greece,Cyprus and possibly also Spain to the Bundestag one by one, the German source said.

Asked about the reports that Germany was urging Spain to wait,a German government spokesman told Reuters: Every country decides for itself. Germany isnt pushing in one direction or the other.

A spokeswoman for Spains Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said she was not aware of any veto from Germany for an aid request.