–Adds Comments From CDU/CSU Parl Leader To Story Sent 07:51 GMT

BERLIN (MNI) – A senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s
center-right CDU/CSU-FDP government coalition argued for an exit of
Greece from the Eurozone in a newspaper interview published Tuesday.

“It could help to create confidence in markets if Greece were no
longer part of the Eurozone,” FDP secretary general Patrick Doering told
the daily Passauer Neue Presse. “Greece can become more competitive and
recover faster outside of the Eurozone,” he argued.

On Sunday, Economics Minister Philipp Roesler predicted that Greece
would most likely be unable to meet the goals agreed with its
international lenders. “I want to say this here very clearly: if Greece
does not meet its obligations, there can be no further payments to
Greece,” he stressed.

In that case, Greece might come to the conclusion that it would be
better to leave the Eurozone, said Roesler, who is also vice chancellor
and head of the FDP. “I think that for many experts, for the FDP, and
for me, a Greek exit from the Eurozone has long since lost its horror,”
he added.

Horst Seehofer, the head of the CSU and Bavarian prime minister,
told the daily Bild in an interview published Tuesday that “we should
not talk at all about a new aid package, and money from the agreed aid
package must only flow if Greece fully meets its obligations.”

CDU/CSU parliamentary leader Volker Kauder said in a separate
interview with Bild to be published tomorrow that “there cannot be any
further concessions [for Greece] neither on timing nor content.”

It is already clear that Greece won’t be able to cut its debt to
120% of GDP by 2020, the weekly Der Spiegel reported Sunday. Granting
Greece more time to meet its budget consolidation goals would require
E10-50 billion in additional aid, according to estimates by the troika –
the EU Commission, the ECB and the IMF, the magazine said.

Doering said he did not see a majority in parliament for further
aid to Greece. Michael Meister, the deputy leader of the CDU/CSU
parliamentary group, echoed the comment in an interview with the daily
Rheinische Post: “If more time [for Greece] means more money, I think
this won’t come about.”

Government spokesman Georg Streiter on Monday refused to comment on
how Merkel would position herself if further aid for Greece were to
become necessary.

–Berlin bureau: +49-30-22 62 05 80; email: twidder@marketnews.com

[TOPICS: M$X$$$,MGX$$$,M$$CR$,M$G$$$,M$Y$$$,MFX$$$,MT$$$$]