Ifo Institute: Crisis in the eurozone and the role of Greece

One of the issues was the crisis in the eurozone and the likelihood of its resumption. Asking whether the euro will now be saved, Clemens Fuest replied: "We will live such crises  in the future in the eurozone, but they will probably not be as strong as the first.

The introduction of the euro led to a massive flow of capital and a burst of over-indebtedness in the countries of the region. It has been a central catalyst for the crisis but also a unique event. I am afraid, however, that we have little resistance to a new crisis.

This is because the ECB can not reduce interest rates any more. And public debt in most countries is so high that they would not be able to react by taking fiscal measures. "

For his part, Heiner Flassbeck estimated that: "The crisis is far from being overcome, we are just talking with fine words about it."

Regarding whether the Greek public debt was what gave rise to the outbreak of the Euro-crisis, he states: "The financial crisis brought the Euro-crisis. Greece worsened it.

But we would have reached judgment in one way or another. Neither Spain nor France or Italy couldm with their own current account deficits, as opposed to Germany, survive for many decades. "

For his part, Clemens Fuest replied: "(...) There are two reasons why Greece has created such a large public debt and Spain a real estate bubble. First, the wrong banking legislation, whereby some banks were considered too big to go bankrupt. When it is clear that banks will be saved, then they can fund every nonsense.

Secondly, there was no credibility of the no-bailout clause, which excludes the rescue of a country by others. "