THE German Government wants Greece to stay in the eurozone and there are no contingency plans to the contrary, Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said late Sunday, responding to a media report that Berlin believes the currency union could cope without Greece.

    Gabriel, the economy minister and leader of the Social Democrats (SPD), also told the Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung that the eurozone had become more resilient in recent years and could not be “blackmailed.”

    “The goal of the German Government, the European Union (EU) and even the government in Athens itself is to keep Greece in the eurozone,” Gabriel said in the interview published yesterday.

    “There were no and there are no other plans to the contrary,” he said, and noted the eurozone had become far more stable in recent years.

    “That’s why we can’t be blackmailed and why we expect the Greece Government, no matter who leads it, to abide by the agreements made with the EU,” he said referring to the Jan. 25 Greek election and possible change of government.

    Earlier a spokesman for Chancellor Angela Merkel, Georg Streiter, said the German Government expects Greece to stick to the terms of its 240-billion-euro (US$312 billion) EU/IMF bailout agreement.

    Streiter declined to comment on a report in Der Spiegel magazine Saturday that said Berlin had shifted its view and now believed the eurozone would be able to cope with a Greek exit, or “Grexit,” if necessary.

    Der Spiegel reported that Berlin considers “Grexit” almost unavoidable if the Syriza opposition party, narrowly ahead in opinion polls, wins Greece’s election. Syriza wants to cancel austerity measures and a chunk of Greek debt.(SD-Agencies)