“No special treatment for Greece,” said CDU lawmaker Volker Kauder, adding a new episode in the caustic verbal exchange between Greek and German officials.
Kauder, who is considered to be Angela Merkel‘s “right hand,” spoke to German newspaper Bild on the issue of the Greek bailout. Germany insists that Greece should continue with austerity measures agreed on by the previous government.
Greece has to present detailed proposals on how it wants to complete its current bailout program and should not expect special treatment from its euro zone partners, Kauder said on Friday.
“The Greek government now has to present its program for the fulfillment of the current second aid package. That’s the only thing we should now focus on,” the parliamentary leader of Merkel’s conservatives said.
The German politician proposed a third bailout program for Greece, noting that Greece should comply with European Union bailout rules like Spain, Portugal and Ireland and not ask for special rules. He also criticized the language Greek politicians are using.
“Greece won’t get special treatment. We won’t be swayed by yobbish speech from Athens,” Kauder said, referring to the hostile exchange of words between the two sides, and particularly between the finance ministers of the two countries, Wolfgang Schaeuble and Yanis Varoufakis.
However, later on Friday, the German government reiterated that its goal is to keep Greece in the common currency bloc. “The goal of the German government, the chancellor and the finance minister has been for years, since the outbreak of the crisis, to preserve the euro zone as a whole — with all its members — and to stabilize it,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert. “This remains our political goal: keeping Greece in the euro zone.”
Meanwhile, more than half of Germans believe Greece should leave the euro zone, according to a poll published Friday amid the war of words between Athens and Berlin.
Also, 80 percent believe Greece is not acting in a reliable manner in its negotiations with European partners, according to the survey by public broadcaster ZDF.
The percentage of respondents who think Greece should stay in the common currency bloc has dropped to 40 percent from 52 percent two weeks ago, while 52 percent now believe it should leave, up from 41 percent.
In addition, only 11 percent now think the left-wing government in Athens is behaving in a trustworthy way in talks with Europe. Only 14 percent believe the Greek government will actually implement the reforms it has committed to, while 82 percent doubt it.
Finally, 80 percent say Greece should get no more bailout funds if it fails to honor its commitments, according to the survey conducted by the Mannheim Research Group.
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