Berlin denies Schaeuble talk of Greece
KREFELD, Germany - Reuters
German Finance Minister Schaeuble (R) speaks to Chancellor Merkel. AFP Photo
A deputy German finance minister dismissed a magazine report saying Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble had told conservative members of Parliament on June 29 to prepare for a looming Greek bankruptcy and eurozone exit.“This report is nonsense,” Deputy Finance Minister Steffen Kampeter told Reuters on June 30 on the sidelines of a regional meeting of Christian Democrats in the western town of Krefeld.
Kampeter said that Schaeuble had spoken to the conservative lawmakers on June 28 about the need for the austerity and reforms in Greece to be implemented. German newsweekly Focus reported that Schaeuble had told MPs in Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats (CDU) and the sister party, Christian Social Union (CSU), to get ready for Greece leaving the euro zone and a Greek state bankruptcy.
The magazine said in an advance of a report in its Monday edition that Schaeuble was talking to the MPs about the further development of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund.
