Sunday, 2 May 2010



From The Sunday Times

May 2, 2010

Merkel misled Germans

Bojan Pancevski

She was initially hailed as the “Iron Chancellor” for holding out against a bailout for the Greeks. But this weekend Angela Merkel was accused of having misled voters after it emerged that Germany would contribute more than €25 billion (£21.7 billion) towards a rescue package.

Merkel was forced to concede last week that Germany would pay the lion’s share of the EU money to be pumped into Greece by 2012.

“I know that this will be very painful,” Merkel said, adding that there was no “sensible alternative”.

Merkel’s earlier tough rhetoric had fuelled fierce anti-Greek sentiment, with more than 80% of Germans opposing a bailout. “Most Germans struggle to understand why they should be paying for the Greeks, who are broke because they squandered their money,” said Bild, Germany’s top-selling tabloid.

The backlash could cause Germany to reconsider its role as Europe’s paymaster.

“The economic consequences of the failure of monetary union, which now appears likely, cannot be calculated,” said Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s leading broadsheet, in a front-page editorial.

Thomas Klau, of the European Council on Foreign Relations think tank, said Berlin’s handling of the Greek crisis had diminished Germans’ trust in the euro, with potentially serious consequences for European integration.

The latest polls indicate that 66% of Germans have become disillusioned with the government and 57% feel Merkel’s coalition should be “taught a lesson” in elections next Sunday in the populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia.


4 Comments

(Displaying 1-4)

Torsten Kaudt wrote:
If Merkel would tell the truth the Germans would understand that Banks made profit by giving money to Greece despite its financial situation and a lot of our industry, the export champions, made money by selling goods to the Greece which they normaly couldn't afford. So Merkel/Germany is not giving the workers money tho safe Greek for the sake of the greek people but for the sake of the industry. Tax payers should give their money directly to the big industry.
May 2, 2010 1:20 PM BST
maggie millington wrote:
Yet again we see a politician being free with OTHER PEOPLES money.
Why don't these leaders have a vote before behaving like a benefactor for all ...... but the very people she is supposed to represent ?
Why should hard working Germans fuel the good life of the Greeks ?
Can't Merkel see how anger will erupt in Germany too ?
May 2, 2010 8:24 AM BST
Charles Hirsch wrote:

Should any more countries be allowed to join the Euro in the near future, say the next five years, while these current messes are being sorted out ??? Entry rules certainly need rethinking.
May 2, 2010 4:55 AM BST
Love Nature wrote:
It appears that another politician has lied to the people. Merkel is a fool to lie to the people. Is a fool to give Greece its citizens money without their consent. Here we see another politician betraying their nation. Britain had Blair and now Brown and Germany now has Merkel. The disease is spreading. Democracy is long gone or never did exist. Never give politicians the power over money.

Posted by Britannia Radio at 13:47