BERLIN — Beset by squabbling ever since it took office eight months ago, the center-right coalition of Chancellor Angela Merkel met Sunday to try to reach agreement over how to save as much as €10 billion a year in Germany’s national budget from 2011 to 2016.

“This cabinet retreat will be an important part of the agenda for the development of the federal republic over the next few years,” Mrs. Merkel said before beginning the talks, which will last until Monday.

“It is vital that we readjust the balance between investment in the future and social welfare handouts,” she said. “That cannot just be done by simply increasing the revenue side. It has to happen by making the structures of social security more efficient.”

The need to find such savings comes amid the crisis in the euro that has prompted several European Union governments — particularly Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal — to make deep cuts to rein in their soaring budget deficits and protect the common currency. Adopting such measures was one of the main conditions for the €750 billion, or $950 billion, bailout package that the euro-zone countries and the International Monetary Fund recently agreed to.