|
Bavarian
minister says time right for Greece to leave 'mum's house'
Greece should exit the eurozone by year’s end and not receive any more aid, a
German regional finance minister has said in a Sunday newspaper interview,
further stirring debate on the issue.
Markus Soeder, finance minister in southern Bavaria state and a member of the
Christian Social Union (CSU), the region’s sister party to Chancellor Angela
Merkel’s CDU, said the euro itself was “right and important”.
“But when a country like Greece on a continuing basis cannot pay back debts,
it must leave the eurozone,” he said.
The CSU has often been more critical of EU bailouts than Merkel's party, and
the German public has doubts about further guarantees for struggling euro zone
nations.
Soeder told Bild am Sonntag newspaper on Sunday that Greece should quit the
euro zone this year.
"According to my forecast, Greece should leave the euro zone by the end of
the year,» he said. «Germans can no longer be the paymaster for Greece. Every
new bit of aid, every relaxation of the guidelines would be the wrong way to
go."
Soeder added giving Greece further financial help «is like trying to water a
desert». He also said: «At some point, everyone's got to move out of mum's house
and for the Greeks the time is ripe for that now."
Last month, German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the “horror” of a
potential exit by debt-mired Greece had worn off and Transport Minister Peter
Ramsauer has also not ruled it out.
Soeder’s remarks prompted criticism from deputy head of Merkel’s Christian
Democratic Union parliamentary group Michael Meister who said such a debate was
damaging and did not help solve the problems.
“That’s a decision for the Greek government to make and the last thing they
need is advice from Germany,” he told the Tagesspiegel newspaper according to a
pre-released article.
German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, who has already called for calm in
the rhetoric over the eurozone debt crisis, said: “Everyone should pay attention
to what they say and how they say it.”
[AFP & Reuters] | 
Keine Kommentare:
Kommentar veröffentlichen