by The Commentator on 29 August 2013 17:39

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, running for re-election in three weeks time, has attracted the fury of Greek politicians by stating what most of her own compatriots regard as obvious, but which is held to be deeply insulting in Greece. Leftists and neo-Nazis are going through the roof.

Mrs.Merkel has told an election rally that it was "fundamentally wrong" for Greece to have been allowed to join the European single currency, the euro. This has been said before, most notoriously in public by former French President Nicolas Sarkozy who (reliable Commentator sources privately told us at the time) also believed that all southern European countries should have been excluded from the euro, on the grounds of general incompetence.

But given the state of the Greek economy (60 percent plus youth unemployment; 27 percent general unemployment) and the acknowledgement this week by Athens that it will need a third debt bailout, combined with widespread anger in Greece that Germans are exploiting their misery, the latest remarks have sent Greek politicians apoplectic with rage.

"Her comments cannot be justified,'' Panos Skourletis, spokesman for Syriza, Greece's leading far-Left, proto-communist opposition party was quoted by news agencies as saying. "For there to be such a statement made in public by Mrs Merkel, even if there is a pre-election period in Germany, is irresponsible."

"The extreme policies of austerity enforced by Germany are testing European cohesion,'' he added.

British diplomatic sources told The Commentator that they found Mrs. Merkel's comments "unhelpful", but they were unwilling to go on the record about the broader situation. The British government regards the creation of the euro as a monumental mistake.

Meanwhile, the third placed party in Greek politics, neo-Nazi Golden Dawn, said it was planning a vigorous response to Mrs. Merkel, though it has not specified what that response might be.

Independent Greek analysts (who will not go on the record for fear of violent reprisals) say Golden Dawn cannot make up its mind whether it opposes the German Chancellor or whether it prefers to stress Germany's Nazi past as a model for Greece's future.