Liberals threaten Greece and the coalition

Managing the Greek portfolio has become a stress test for Germany's governing coalition of Christian Democrats and Liberals in Berlin. “The FDP is looking for a showdown with Merkel,” headlines the Financial Times Deutschland the day after the umpeenth dust-up between the Chancellor and her restive allies. Caught off guard by doubts about the solvency of Athens expressed out loud by Philipp Rösler, the (Liberal) Minister of Economy, the Chancellor has asked members of her cabinet to stop speculating in public about a bankruptcy in Greece, the newspaper adds. In vain. Unimpressed, the head of the FDP writes in a guest editorial inDie Welt that “the Germans, Germany itself, the financial markets and the Greeks need clarity” - a clarity that cannot be had “by imposing a code of silence”. The FTD notes that the discord in the German government has had appreciable consequences for other Member States of the euro zone, including an increase in interest rates on Italian bonds, which has prompted even U.S. president Barack Obama to express his concern.