This won't help Schroeder.

Germany: It also doesn't help the Yes campaign in France or Holland.

May 25 (Bloomberg) -- Business confidence in Germany, Europe's largest economy, unexpectedly fell to a 21-month low in May, amid concern about the deteriorating growth outlook. The Ifo institute in Munich said today its business confidence index, based on a monthly survey of 7,000 executives, fell to 92.9 from 93.3 in April. Economists forecast an increase to 93.4, showed the median of 43 estimates in a Bloomberg survey. In Italy, business confidence slumped to a 3 1/2-year low the same month, a report from the Rome-based Isae institute showed today. ``I don't see any growth in Germany at this point,'' said Wolfgang Leese, chief executive officer of Salzgitter AG, Germany's second-largest steelmaker, in an interview. ``Demand is coming mainly from outside of Europe.''