Monday, September 10, 2012

Merkel's Grexit U-Turn?

Chancellor Angela Merkel has, apparently, made a U-turn wrt her policy on Greece.

Faced with the political fallout from a Greek exit before German national elections in 2013, she now wants to stop Athens from leaving the euro zone at all costs (even if it means massaging the figures in the upcoming troika report).

That at least is the theory according to Der Spiegel.

However, I remain unconvinced. The elections are not new or a surprise, and Merkel would have been well aware of the potential political fallout from a Grexit. Indeed, if anything, a Grexit may enhance her standing more than if she were to be seen to prop up Greece at the cost of German financial stability.