Merkel says Germany wants no permanent stake in banks

COLOMBEY-LES-DEUX-EGLISES, France (Reuters) - Germany may inject capital into its banks in response to the financial crisis, but is not planning to take permanent stakes in them, Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday.

"This is about providing the banks with sufficient capital. I don't rule out that there will be capital injections," she said at a news conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Merkel stressed, however, that the state was not looking to intervene in the banks on a permanent basis.

Sarkozy and Merkel met on Saturday in former French president Charles de Gaulle's home village in eastern France, a day before the leaders of countries that are in the euro zone hold an emergency meeting on the financial crisis.

(Reporting by Francois Murphy, writing by Dave Graham)