Schäuble: It was not my motive to harm the Greeks, I have a clear conscience

“New Weekend” host Wolfgang Schäuble’s full interview.
the former finance minister emphasizes that he has a clear conscience about his choices since his motivation was to help and not harm the Greeks. In fact, he notes that “Greece has achieved a lot”. He remains, however, pessimistic about the economic crisis.

“The crisis has not been definitively overcome – especially in the light of the current conditions. But what is true is: Greece achieved a lot! And this shows that the work done was not wasted. We had to demand a lot from Greece, but above all Greece had to demand a lot from itself. The price for the internal devaluation, which Greece had to suffer, is very heavy for the Greek citizens. But this was a decision of the Greeks and not of other Europeans”, he says characteristically.

For today’s situation

“Greece additionally faces the fact that Turkey is attempting to use strategically – in a brutal way – the influence it gained with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is not new. But we must do everything to ensure the principle that borders should not be changed unilaterally by military means. We Germans after the disaster of two World Wars learned our lesson – first with France and then with Poland and the Czech Republic: We are no longer fighting for borders, we are uniting Europe.”

On the risk of Grexit in 2015

“This was proposed by the great majority of finance ministers in the Eurogroup. And you also know that in Greece some argued that it is better for the country. But it did not pass the Council of Heads of State and Government for well-considered reasons. Then, by announcing new elections, Tsipras took a courageous step and again obtained a majority for the opposite policy, from the one with which he was elected. His contribution was remarkable, facilitating the successor government in forming the basis for the stabilization of Greece. That deserves recognition.”

For the danger of a Third World War

“Given Putin’s aggressive behavior boosting NATO strength is the right way to make it clear that we are determined to credibly defend the values ​​of our own liberal democracies.”

On Germany’s mistakes in relations with Russia

“The German political leadership made mistakes. I made it clear, already as a member of the Merkel government, that I do not think it is right to build the Nord Stream 2 pipeline against the reservations of all European partners and the USA. If we want a united and effective Europe, we too must coordinate with others in decision-making.”