The German Minister of Finances Wolfgang Schäuble argued that Greek society will have to decide whether it will carry out the necessary reforms within the euro or not, in an interview to German newspaper Frankfurther Allgemeine.
In his interview he noted that every countries will have to demonstrate that it is capable of managing the reform process, which is necessary to be a part of the global economy. As such, the Greek will have decide whether the country will carry out its reforms within the Eurozone, where there is not external devaluation tool available.
According to the German Minister, the Samaras-Venizelos government was “on the right path”, while Alexis Tsipras the “understandable and increasing concern” of the Greek people and made promises which he was unable to keep, namely to remain in the euro, but without a program or reforms.
When asked about Germany’s role in the difficult negotiations with Greece, Mr. Schäuble denied that Berlin took a lead role and claimed that “everyone at the Eurogroup” was in agreement. He further claimed that German does not have the ambition to assume a hegemonic political role.
