Merkel Gets Parliament to Approve Euro Deals BERLIN - Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany rushed back to Berlin and secured the necessary majority to pass the European Union fiscal pact and the permanent European bailout fund on Friday, despite what was viewed at home as a stinging defeat in the previous night's negotiations in Brussels. She has been assailed in Germany by those who consider the bailout fund a step on a slippery slope toward a steady transfer of German funds to the euro zone's periphery, and by those who believe that Ms. Merkel has not gone far enough to stabilize the common currency. But the chancellor cobbled together the support to pass the measures. "What we are passing today is an important step to make clear to the world: We stand behind the euro," Ms. Merkel said before the vote. We want it as our stable currency. "With these treaties, we take an irreversible step toward a sustainable stability union," she added. Yet it is precisely such steps that have many Germans feeling uneasy. Several hundred gathered outside Parliament on Friday demanding that the vote be postponed and denouncing it as a loss of their rights. "As a German citizen, I feel as though I have been completely passed by," said Wigbert Baumann, who had traveled with a group from the southern city of Würzburg to protest. Such sentiment reflects the challenge Ms. Merkel faces in trying to balance the needs of German voters with those of Germany's partners in the European Union and abroad, who are quick to chastise her reluctance to take swift action. Political analysts largely viewed the chancellor's willingness to bend to the demands of the Italian and Spanish prime ministers, Mario Monti and Mariano Rajoy, as reflective of her understanding that she could not simply oppose every proposal from her partners. They noted that Ms. Merkel stuck by her main principles - ensuring that any financial grants would include guarantees and laying the groundwork for a Europewide banking regulator. "She realized that she could not just keep saying no," said Tanja A. Börzel, a professor at the Free University in Berlin. But Jürgen Trittin, a leading member for the opposition Greens, called the results from Brussels a "double loss for Merkel," because she had to back down on her calls for stricter budget cuts and agree to a new growth package and easier financial help for banks. "She has once again crossed her line in the sand," he said. Before the summit meeting, the German news media had focused on how isolated Ms. Merkel's position was. While she appeared weaker as a result, it also made some degree of compromise appear increasingly inevitable. But the discussion shifted quickly to the debate over the European Stability Mechanism and the fiscal pact. Over the past weeks, Ms. Merkel had laid the groundwork with the opposition and the governors of Germany's 16 states, who make up Parliament's upper house, holding meetings that she described as "constructive, if not always easy," to ensure enough support so the measures would pass both houses with the two-thirds majority needed to protect them against possible challenges in the constitutional court. In order to win support from the leading opposition parties, the Social Democrats and the Greens, Ms. Merkel agreed to introduce a tax on select financial transactions, in accord with other European Union members, and to increase spending on state programs, easing the pressure on regional budgets. While the concessions were seen by some as weakening Ms. Merkel's position, it was clear to others that no progress could be made without her doing so. "It was pretty clear heading into the talks that she would have to pay this price, and it was accepted relatively silently within the coalition," said Volker Kronenberg, a political scientist at Bonn University. Nicholas Kulish contributed reporting.