KIEL Dow Jones)--La chancelière allemande Angela Merkel et son ministre des Finances Wolfgang Schäuble ont refusé vendredi de commenter les spéculations rapportant que Standard & Poor's Ratings a prévenu plusieurs pays de la zone euro d'un déclassement imminent. 


  Angela Merkel a indiqué qu'aucun commentaire ne serait fait "sur des choses qui ne sont pas encore passées" et que tous les sujets pourraient être abordés lors de sa conférence hebdomadaire de samedi. 


  Wolfgang Schäuble n'a pas non plus souhaité commenter. 


  -Andrea Thomas, Dow Jones Newswires 


  (Géraldine Amiel a contribué à cet article) 

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble declined to comment Friday on reports that Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has notified countries about a downgrade. 


  "I want to ask for your understanding that we can't comment now on things that haven't taken place yet," Merkel told reporters at a party event here. She said at Saturday's scheduled press conference, all issues can be discussed in full length. 


  Arriving at the same meeting of the Christian Democratic Union, Schaeuble waved off questions about the downgrade and declined to comment. 


  Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has notified the French government of its decision to downgrade the country's credit rating, a senior French government official said Friday, a move that marks a long-awaited blow to France's international standing and knocks the country out of the top financial league of the euro zone. 


  S&P has informed the French government that the country's cherished triple-A rating will be lowered one notch to AA+. 


  There were also media reports of downgrades of other euro-zone countries.