German Public View Greece as out of EU

A new poll of Germans show that most Germans would like Greece to leave the eurozone. That should not be a surprise. The citizens of the “paymaster of Europe” must be sick and tired of part of their taxes going to what appears to be an endless series of payouts which has gone well beyond Greece. And many Germany probably believe that these nations got themselves into their own dilemmas and should get themselves out.

The data is another confirmation that Angela Merkel’s job is on the line if she continues to press rescues of other nations

A Financial Times/Ipso poll showed:

The German sentiment, detailed in the poll conducted last month, stands in marked contrast to that in Italy and Spain, where respondents were far more reluctant to cut Athens loose . The diverging views pose a big challenge to EU leaders who this month must again grapple with how to deal with a new Greek government poised to ask for
two more years to implement painful economic and government reforms demanded by international lenders as part of their three-year bailout programme.

And,

Only 26 per cent of Germans believed Greece “will ever repay its bailout loans”, compared with 77 per cent of Italians and 57 per cent of Spaniards. Nearly half of Germans did not think Greece would ever be able to reform its economy to free itself from international assistance, while 88 per cent of Italians and 70 per cent of Spaniards were “some-what confident” they could.

Douglas A. McIntyre