Eurozone Faces 10 Lean Years: German Chancellor Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday it would take a decade before the Eurozone was in a better position and there was much work left to be done to solve the bloc's sovereign-debt crisis.

[It will] certainly take a decade until we are in a better position again, Merkel said in her weekly podcast. We have a whole chunk of work ahead of us, I've got to say.

Merkel spoke a day after the Eurozone failed to secure new money at a Group of 20 summit from potential investors such as China and Brazil for its efforts to overcome the debt crisis.

Uncertainty about efforts to tackle the crisis persisted on Saturday. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou, who survived a confidence vote on Friday, but is expected to step down, said negotiations to form a coalition government would start soon.

He called for a broad-based government to secure a bailout from the Eurozone, the main weapon in Europe's battle against the spreading economic crisis.

Merkel said all of Europe had overspent for years, but welcomed that all Eurozone members had agreed to a debt brake like Germany's.

Almost all European countries have spent more over the years than they earned, she said.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt; Editing by Susan Fenton)