Once considered all but dead, Angela Merkel’s effort to impose some sort of regulation on hedge funds may finally bear fruit.

The German Chancellor reportedly said that, in concert with Britain and France, Germany would issue new proposals on hedge fund self-regulation by the spring. Previously, opposition from the U.K., alongside that of the U.S., had helped to sink her push for international hedge fund regulation and monitoring.

“We have come a long way in our thinking over the last year,” she told the German magazine Capital. “We are working on a self-regulatory declaration for the hedge fund sector. Together with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, I will finalize the new proposals at the EU level by the spring.”

Brown is set to host Merkel and Sarkozy for a discussion on financial market stability in January.