Merkel, Germany Turn Up Heat on Greece 'Scandal'

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.)