Stretched between Athens and Lisbon, the Brussels blanket could prove to be too short. And once again, when we speak of Europe, we refer to Berlin. In the foreground there is still the whirlwind of more or less empty words on how to avoid the default of Greece, in a continuous rebound between extemporaneous reassuring declarations and fatal apocalyptic omens.
"Greek bankruptcy is a risk you don't want to face and you couldn't control“. According to reports from the Ansa agency, the German leader Angela Merkel he would have used these words in today's meeting with the parliamentary groups of the Reichstag. But the real German star today, for once, is not the chancellor.
During the last meeting of the Eurogroup, the finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble he had an exchange with his Portuguese colleague, Vitor Gaspar. Unfortunately for them, the curtain ended up on Youtube. According to reports from Dow Jones, the German reassured Gaspar that "if there was a need to adjust the (aid) program for Portugal", Germany "would be ready to do so". Of course, once the final agreement on Greece has been found.
Although indirect and far from official, this is the first time that a euro area official admits an uncomfortable truth about Portugal: the current aid plan for the Iberian country may not be enough. Gaspar evidently knows this very well: help "would be greatly appreciated," he replied to Schaeuble.
