Minister in Germany Discusses Greece Role

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/19/world/europe/minister-in-germany-discusses-greece-role.html

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BERLIN — Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, who has come under criticism for his handling of the Greek debt crisis, indicated in an interview published on Saturday that he was prepared to resign rather than go against his convictions.

Asked by the weekly Der Spiegel about differences between his tough stance with Greece and the greater flexibility shown by Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr. Schäuble admitted that “one sometimes has different opinions.”

“And then one tries together to find solutions. In that process each has their role,” he said. “Angela Merkel is the chancellor, I am the finance minister. Politicians derive their responsibility from their offices. Nobody can force them. If somebody would try that, I could go to the president and request my dismissal.”

It was the first time that Mr. Schäuble had mentioned resignation in the months of debate over Greece’s debt, during which he expressed a much harder line toward Greece than Ms. Merkel, whose agenda included not only Germany’s needs but also the health of the European Union. Asked if he was thinking about resigning, Mr. Schäuble told Der Spiegel: “No, how do you come to that?”

“Mrs. Merkel and I have one constant: we know that we can rely on one another,” he said.

Asked for comment, Mr. Schäuble’s spokesman, Martin Jäger, said only that the interview spoke for itself.

It appeared a day after German lawmakers voted to open negotiations on a third bailout for Greece. Although Ms. Merkel had a comfortable majority, she faced the biggest revolt to date among her conservative deputies: 439 lawmakers voted in favor of moving ahead with the bailout deal that European leaders negotiated last weekend in Brussels. There were 119 votes against, and 40 legislators abstained.

Ms. Merkel and Mr. Schäuble had urged Parliament to back the bailout, which both called “a last attempt” to order Greece’s finances and build a functioning state. It would be Greece’s third bailout in five years, and it was negotiated with the goal of keeping the country in the eurozone.

But a breakdown of the vote showed that among the 119 votes against starting talks on a new package, 60 were from members of Ms. Merkel’s conservative bloc; another five abstained and four did not vote. That opposition was double the number in February, when Parliament last voted on Greek debt relief.

Mr. Schäuble’s support for the bailout is considered crucial to retaining conservative backing in the next key parliamentary vote which would be to approve or reject whatever package is negotiated in coming weeks. In that sense, his public dalliance with resignation seemed intended to underscore for the chancellor how much she needed his support, also in what could become fiercer quarrels with the Social Democrats, the center-left party that is Ms. Merkel’s partner in her grand coalition government.

Although the Social Democrats overwhelmingly backed Friday’s proposal, they warned Mr. Schäuble against repeating his admonitions that Greece would be better off exiting the eurozone. He dropped the stance in time for Friday’s vote.