Anger at Greece's failure to meet fiscal targets that are a condition for its international bailout is nearing breaking point in Germany and the Netherlands, with senior politicians talking openly about a possible Greek exit from the eurozone. German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told parliament in Berlin on Thursday it was "up to Greece as to whether it can fulfil the conditions that are necessary for membership in the common currency".
Eurozone leaders have hitherto dismissed any idea of a country leaving the eurozone, arguing that it would bring disaster on that nation and cause severe systemic problems for other partners in the 17-nation currency bloc. Schaeuble has ramped up his rhetoric since "troika" inspectors from the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank suspended talks on payment of a new aid tranche to Greece last week due to backsliding on its deficit targets.
Horst Seehofer, head of the Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU), was the first prominent German figure to suggest openly that Greece might eventually be forced to leave the 17-nation single currency bloc in an interview in the Bild newspaper on Wednesday. He was expressing what many lawmakers and ministers in the German capital have been whispering behind closed doors for weeks, according to well-informed sources.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said in a proposal published on Wednesday that fiscal violators who refused to give up sovereignty over their budgets to a new European "discipline" czar should leave the bloc.
The troika inspectors are due to return to Athens next week, but their abrupt departure has reinforced a widespread feeling in northern Europe that Greece's government is simply unwilling to take the draconian steps required to meet the conditions of the 110 billion euro bailout they sealed in May 2010.
Greek government spokesman Ilias Mosialos was forced to deny on Thursday that an exit was possible and a spokesman for the European Commission said there was "no debate at all" on the issue. German Chancellor Angela Merkel rebuffed talk of a Greek exit earlier this week, warning of a dangerous "domino effect" were the bloc's weakest member to leave. There is no legal framework for a country leaving the currency zone and the costs of an exit could far outweigh the pain of staying in.