Germany casts cold water on ‘Greek commissioner’ rumour

Germany is trying to tone down reports sparking indignation in Greece that it wants a new eurozone “budget commissioner” with the power to veto budget decisions taken by the Greek government.

A German finance ministry spokesman said yesterday the eurozone was discussing several ways to closely guide the implementation of budget savings programmes in countries that have taken up rescue funds, but had not settled on one proposal.

“There are discussions in the eurozone about what we should do when in certain cases, certain programmes go off track over a long period, and time and again,” spokesman Martin Kotthaus said, adding there were still shortcomings in the implementation of Greece’s savings programme.

“In the eurogroup there is a discussion, and there are different proposals and papers,” he said.

Greece, which has repeatedly failed to meet the fiscal targets set out by its international lenders, is in talks to finalise a second €130bn package.

It was first reported on Friday that Germany wanted Greece to give up control of budget policy to European institutions as part of discussions over the package. The Financial Times obtained a copy of the proposal showing Germany wanted a new eurozone budget commissioner.

With many Greeks blaming Germans for the austerity medicine their country has had to swallow, officials in Athens dismissed the idea of relinquishing budget control as out of the question.

Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and her foreign minister Guido Westerwelle criticised the fierce tone of the debate, in a sign the German finance ministry may be sampling reaction to an idea it has concocted but not yet cleared with the cabinet.

“Everything only works if Greece and other states are in talks with one another,” Ms Merkel said on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, noting that she did not want any controversial debate.

“I believe we are carrying out a discussion we should not be.”

Mr Westerwelle, speaking in Cairo, struck a more forceful tone, saying he was “very angry about the tone of this debate”.

“We want to lead a debate that encourages and that does not discourage,” he said.

The spokesman said Greece’s debt sustainability could only be assessed after the conclusion of discussions on private sector involvement in a cut on its sovereign debt.