As Angela Merkel packs her bags for yet another European summit, the question which has been plaguing her for the past year remains: how far will Germany go to prop up the euro zone?
On Monday, Merkel played down expectations for a swift resolution to the crisis at the summit, saying, according to Reuters, that she was concerned that the leaders would focus too much on shared liability for debt and stressing again her opposition to it.
Mutual liability for debt was both politically and economically wrong, Merkel added.
A growing number of voices in her own country are saying that maybe the expense of saving the single currency isn’t worth the economic impact on its hard-won economic health. Germany seems determined to continue dispensing harsh medicine to other less fiscally responsible euro zone countries.
Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaueble countered pleas for some easing of austerity in Greece by saying that the troubled country wasn’t trying hard enough. With an estimated bill of 671 billion euros ($838 billion) or 25 percent of GDP, according to Credit Suisse, if all Germany's commitments to the bailout funds are fully utilised, the alternative may start looking more attractive.
“There is a groundswell of opinion that the euro actually isn’t that important to Germany,” Sean Corrigan, chief investment strategist, Diapason Commodities Management, told CNBC Monday.
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