Today's letters: Creation of a euro fund, a poker heist and paying for potholes

The following comments reflect the views of DW-WORLD.DE readers. Not all reader comments have been published. DW-WORLD.DE reserves the right to edit for length and appropriateness of content.

European Monetary Fund idea wins support in Germany
Germany to push for fund to strengthen euro-zone stability

The EU should have the EMF as soon as it is possible. Today, the EU is the richest body of states. And the euro has started to have more credibility with people all over the world and the ECB than the US dollar and the Federal Reserve, since the ECB is not a "private bank" and "a family business." After the establishment of the EMF, the EU can look forward to opening a similar bank for the entire world, and may be named the European and World Monetary Fund or EWMF. -- Pavel, Great Britain

This is a fantastic idea. What surprises me is that it wasn't implemented with the introduction of the euro. -- Robert Maxwell, US

German poker tournament robbers were amateurs, police chief says
Masked gunmen rob poker tournament at Berlin hotel

No! How can the German police allow alleged amateurs walk into a big poker tournament with a million dollar purse and walk out with 25 percent of the money and be on the loose? -- Gary Kubik, US

One who believes they can penetrate German security must be considered an amateur! -- William A. Schmidt, US

Making potholes pay: German village cashes in on its bad roads

It's very strange but I always thought that this plague of potholes in the pavements was just a characteristic of third world countries, but with great surprise I see that it is not. Here in Puebla, Mexico we have a large catalog of potholes and craters which inevitably destroy our cars quickly and the mafia that rules this city and this state does not do anything about it. -- Eugenio Herrmann, Mexico

We see our Public Works crews merely toss in loose gravel and solvent into a wet pothole. After two days the repair is useless. If they would square the hole with a pneumatic hammer and dry the hole with a torch then place a good mix of asphalt it would be cost effective. As it is done now it is a total waste of tax dollars and man hours. The loose gravel and solvent is called, "popcorn" because of the way it gets knocked out of the hole almost with the first vehicle passing over it. It ends up clogging our storm sewers and goes into our water ways killing fish. -- Paul McCarthy, US

We ignore them and people fall in break their legs. Then they complain to the government which does nothing. In Kenya the roads are a mess. Could you introduce that strategy to Africa? Selling potholes, funny! -- Alex Mutua Mwanzia, Kenya

Compiled by Stuart Tiffen
Editor: Rob Turner