Angela Merkel hinted that the second Greek bailout package might have to be renegotiated amid increasing market speculation Wednesday that European leaders want to force private holders of Greek bonds to take bigger losses.

The German chancellor didn't rule out altering the terms to the €109 billion ($148 billion US) package, saying the decision must be based on how Greece's debt inspectors, the so-called troika, judge Athens' recent austerity efforts.

"So we must now wait for what the troika finds out and what it tells us: do we have to renegotiate or do we not have to renegotiate?" she said in an interview with Greece's ERT television Tuesday night.

Merkel added that she "cannot anticipate the result of the troika."

...Jose Manuel Barroso, who heads the executive European Commission, said in a speech at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, that the 27-nation EU must develop a stronger central government in response to the current crisis.

"If we do not move forward with more unification, we will suffer more fragmentation," he said Wednesday. "I think this is going to be a baptism of fire for a whole generation."

"Today, we are facing the biggest challenges that this union has ever had to face throughout its history — a financial crisis, an economic and social crisis, but also a crisis of confidence," Barroso said.

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