Schaeuble stresses need for structural reforms, defends 2015 Greek euro ‘timeout’ idea

Structural reforms are key to membership of the euro area, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said while defending his 2015 offer of a Greek euro “timeout.”

“If a country does not want to leave [the euro], then it has to make structural reforms – like Greece has,” Schaeuble said in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica published Thursday.

“With the euro, the time is over when some countries could increase their competitiveness through currency devaluation. This is a political short-cut,” he said.

Asked about his proposal for a temporary Greek exit from the eurozone, put forward in the dramatic summer of 2015, the German finance minister defended his idea.

“You know what [Italian Economy Minister] Pier Carlo Padoan said in public: an overwhelming majority of finance ministers were convinced that it would be better if Greece were temporarily out of the euro,” Schaeuble said.

“It was Greece that decided otherwise. We are now making an effort to make sure that the third aid package is a success,” he said.