Merkel Partners Call for Greek Euro Exit
Angela Merkel’s coalition partners are lining up to demand a Greek exit from the euro, mounting pressure on the German chancellor and fanning market fears that Greece could shortly leave the single currency bloc.
Patrick Döring, general-secretary of Angela Merkel’s junior coalition partners the Free Democrats (FDP), told the regional Passauer Neue Presse newspaper that Greece could recover and regain competitiveness more quickly outside the eurozone.
“If Greece was no longer a part of the eurozone it could create trust on markets”, he said in remarks published Tuesday (24 July).
He is the latest of a number of top-ranking members of the two smaller parties in Merkel’s coalition to call for an exit for the benefit of Greece and to prevent contagion, mindful of the rising cost to Germany of bailing out weaker eurozone states.
Rating agency Moody’s acknowledged that burden on Monday, dropping its outlook on German debt from stable to negative.