German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with industry, banking, government and union leaders in Berlin on Wednesday to discuss how to best cope with the fallout from the current economic crisis.  

A week before the German government is to issue its next economic forecast, Merkel called representatives from key businesses, banks and unions to a meeting in Berlin to try to assess the size of the crisis, and hammer out a course of action to avoid massive layoffs.

The government has already passed two stimulus packages it says are worth 81 billion euros ($104.7 billion), but the coalition is considering additional measures. It has, however, rejected calls from service-industry union ver.di and metal-workers' union IG Metall to finance a third, 100-billion-euro stimulus package.

Economics Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg said the "overwhelming majority" of participants at the meeting agreed that talk of a third stimulus package "lacks any foundation."