German Chancellor Angela Merkel is prepared to let Greece leave the eurozone if the Greeks vote for a government that decides to flout the current austerity measures.
A report in today’s Der Spiegel is published in tandem with polls showing a radical left wing party ahead three weeks before the Greek election.
Alexis Tsipras’ Syriza party, 'The Coalition of the Radical Left,' now has pledged not to halt Troika reforms but to reverse them and renegotiate the terms of Greece’s bailout.
This could be a departure from the party's stated aim by its chief economic advisor, John Milios, who has downplayed fears that Greece under a Syriza government would exit the eurozone.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble is of the same opinion as Merkel with both viewing a Greek exit from the eurozone as being ‘bearable.’
Germany sees recovery in the other EC problem children of Portugal and Ireland which should serve to ease the pressure if Greece goes it alone a ditches its responsibilities.
What Germany has not admitted is the impetus a Greek exit could give to Portugal to do the same - to default on or renegotiate its loans, revert to the Escudo, and ditch the increasingly insistent Brussels requests that reforms to Portugal's archaic business and labour laws must actually happen sooner rather than in the distant future.
The dissolution of the current Greek parliament last week was due to an inability by its MPs to agree on a successor to the outgoing president Karolos Papoulias. This has kicked off the process for an early election, now set for January 25th.
Such is the general dissatisfaction of the Greek population with its politicians, who have failed to make any sense of the Greek economy despite being handed billions from the Troika, that the Syriza party easily has filled the void and promises the Greeks and their economy an interesting ride.
Alexis Tsipras, leader of the Syriza party
