Merkel, Germany Turn Up Heat on Greece 'Scandal'

Meanwhile, Greeks want Germans to pay them WWII reparations
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 18, 2010 11:57 AM CST
Merkel, Germany Turn Up Heat on Greece 'Scandal'
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures while speaking during a media conference after an EU summit in Brussels, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2010.   (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Angela Merkel ripped into Greece and the bank that helped it massage its budget, saying the country has “falsified statistics for years,” and that “it’s a scandal if it turned out that the same banks that brought us to the brink of the abyss helped.” Merkel’s government is investigating what role Goldman Sachs had in the scheme, as is the European Union, which ordered Greece to disclose the details of its currency swaps.

Many have looked to Germany to help bail out Greece, but that’s not a popular idea politically or within Merkel’s coalition; the leader of her Bavarian allies declared yesterday that “not a single euro” should go to Greece. Today, the Greeks fired back that Germany should pay it reparations for its World War II occupation of the country before criticizing it. “There are still Greeks weeping for their lost brothers,” said one lawmaker. (More Goldman Sachs Greece stories.)

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