German Chancellor Angela Merkel is increasingly isolated in her stance on Greece.
Growing Pressure From Within the ranks of her own party bloc to give up on Greece for the sake of the euro.
Members of Merkel’s Christian Democratic bloc are openly challenging her stance of keeping Europe’s most-indebted country in the 19-nation currency region. Even some officials in the Finance Ministry are leaning toward the conclusion that the euro area would be better off without Greece, two people familiar with the matter said.
“The euro would be strengthened if Greece left,” Alexander Radwan, a Merkel-affiliated lawmaker who voted for granting Greece a temporary extension of its bailout in February, said in an interview. “The other countries could then move closer together and apply the rules more strictly.”
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, a prominent German advocate of European unity for decades, has given plenty of signs of exasperation with Greece since Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis took office in January on an anti-austerity platform.
He told an Austrian television interviewer on March 12 that he could envisage a Greek exit from 19-nation currency. On a panel in Berlin the next week, he accused Greek authorities of lying to voters by failing to tell Greeks that they “lived way above their means” for decades.
As talks between Greece and its creditors drag on, the view that the euro would be stronger without Greece is gaining ground in Merkel’s Christian Democratic-led bloc, according to two lawmakers. They asked not to be identified because they don’t want to publicly challenge Merkel.
“Having its own currency could help Greece get back on its feet,” Hans-Peter Friedrich, one of 29 lawmakers from Merkel’s bloc who voted against extending Greece’s aid program, said in an e-mailed answer to questions.
Another Week of Deadlines
Bloomberg reports Greece Readies for Another Week of Deadlines.
