W.Schauble spoke to the French Liberation where he claimed that nothing was imposed on Greece since, if a Grexit was decided, Europe would offer its support to the country. At the same time he defended the merits of austerity policies.
Speaking of the Greek PM, Dr.Schauble explained that :”A.Tsipras knew that he would not be able to keep his promise of staying in the Eurozone without accepting the memorandum. Because of that, he tried to gain time. He thought that he would find great support both in and out of Europe and that no one would say “yes” to Greece exiting the Eurozone. That is why he took it so far. What is even more important, it took time for the Greek citizens to accept that the promise given to them by Tsipras in order to win the elections was not feasible”.
Concerning Tsipra's decision for a referendum, Dr.Schauble stressed that Berlin was not aware of it and that they were “gobsmacked”. He also stated that he cannot understand Tsipras' or the Greek peoples' behaviour. “Tsipras called for a referendum after the summit without having warned anyone. He did the exact opposite of what he had told them. Nobody understood exactly what his strategy was or whether he had actually programmed that referendum. After the Greeks followed his directions and voted against the bailout program by 60% he decided to take it anyhow. And the Greeks agreed to that change. This is something I dont understand. But I am not Greek”.
When asked about his request for a Grexit in the Eurogroup of July 11, Schauble answered that “I believe that it was better for Greece to leave the Euro for a short while, to return to economic growth and become more competitive before it returns. But I did not say that we should through Greece out. I just said that if Greece had this view, then this would be better for Greece and we would support it in that”.