Top German adviser predicts euro collapse in five years as Spanish unemployment soars to record 27.2%



Spain's unemployment rate rose to a new record of 27.2 percent in the first quarter of this year, with 6.2 million people out of work, data revealed today.

The gloomy news from the country's National Statistics Institute came as one of the top economic advisers to Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has claimed the euro may not survive more than five more years.

Dr Kai Konrad said in a candid interview with newspaper Welt am Sonntag: 'Europe is important to me. Not the euro. And I would only give the euro a limited chance of survival.'



Euro crisis: Italian centre-left politician Enrico Letta was nominated yesterday to become the new Italian Prime Minister

He added: 'A concrete period is hard to identify as it depends on so many factors. But five years sounds realistic.'

And in a fresh sign of discontent among the European Union's heavyweight nations, Italy's newly-nominated prime minister Enrico Letta has attacked the EU for being 'too focused on austerity' instead of growth.

Letta, who is from the centre-left, has yet to form a government but his arrival has broken the post-election political deadlock in Italy which it was feared would threaten the euro.

His comments on austerity come amid growing resentment in Italy against measures imposed by the technocrat government led by former EU Commissioner Mario Monti, which some economists say has only worsened an existing recession.

The latest dire unemployment figures from Spain also look set to pile pressure on prime minister Mariano Rajoy, who like Monti is pursuing unpopular austerity policies on the orders of eurozone officials.

Berlin's patience with cash-strapped eurozone partner Greece may also be wearing thin after its foreign minister said it planned to claim reparations from Germany dating from the Second World War.

Dimitris Avramopoulos didn't mention what amount it would be seeking, but Greece's media has touted a figure of €162billion which would make significant inroads into the country's massive debt pile.

Any legal action against Germany is likely to take years with no certainty of success, and meanwhile Berlin is a key contributor to Greece's bailout funding.

Eurosceptism has increased across the six biggest members of the European Union in the years since the eurozone crisis, a new poll has revealed.

The survey by EU pollster Eurobarometer, published in the Guardian, looked at levels of trust in the union in Germany, France, Britain, Italy, Spain, and Poland.