In a rare interview marking a decade since Greece’s near-exit from the euro, Angela Merkel defends her record on Greece’s debt crisis, saying she stands by the tough measures but condemns the stereotype of Greeks as lazy.
Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she will not apologise for the way she handled the Greek debt crisis, despite acknowledging that the years of austerity caused profound hardship and that she was personally pained by both anti-German sentiment and damaging stereotypes about Greece.
The interview was part of her visit to Athens to present the Greek translation of her memoir 'Freedom', in which she reflects on the debt crisis and her years in power.
Speaking to SKAI TV during the trip, an appearance timed to mark ten years since the fraught summer of 2015, Merkel said she stood by every decision she made during the crisis and rejected the notion of an apology.
“No, I would not apologise because I believed that something had to change and that I could not change Greek policy. This had to be done internally,” she said.
Merkel added, “But I would like to say that I understand and thank all those who carried such a burden to remain in the eurozone and in this way offered Europe a good service. We remained united in this difficult situation. That’s why I wanted to thank you and say that I was completely aware of what many people were going through.”
While Greece endured unprecedented austerity and social upheaval, Merkel said she never believed the clichés often repeated during the crisis.
“Of course, it hurt me when someone said that Greeks are this and that… There are no Greeks and Germans. Just as, unfortunately, there are corrupt German companies, so there were some Greek ones. Accordingly, there are more and less hardworking Germans and Greeks. I have to examine each case separately. If I start judging an entire nation based on some stereotype, then I have failed and cannot solve any problem.”
“I don’t like these generalisations at all,” she said.
The remarks refer to a widespread narrative in parts of the German and northern European media that Greeks were lazy or irresponsible and had only themselves to blame for the debt crisis. Popular tabloid outlets, including Bild, frequently portrayed Greeks as living beyond their means at German taxpayers’ expense, with headlines and caricatures that inflamed public opinion.
These stereotypes were sharply rejected by many economists and by data published during the crisis. According to the OECD, Greeks were among the hardest-working people in Europe in terms of annual hours worked, but structural inefficiencies in the economy limited productivity. Eurostat figures also confirmed that Greek workers routinely put in longer hours than their German counterparts.
Merkel herself had warned against generalisations at the time, telling the Bundestag that respect was due to the Greek people’s sacrifices. Nevertheless, the damaging narrative gained traction across Europe and contributed to the resentment that fuelled mass protests and, at times, anti-German sentiment in Greece.
Merkel recalled how personally painful it was to be depicted as a Nazi in the Greek press and at demonstrations:
“Of course it hurt me when they linked me to Nazism and the demonstrations that were taking place at the time… I came here once and there was a demonstration in every square. I had to cross the city very quickly, which of course I didn’t like.”
Despite the bitterness of that era, Merkel insisted she was determined from the outset to keep Greece in the euro.
“I didn’t want Greece to leave the euro,” she said, recalling internal debates during the height of the crisis. “I thought a lot about this question and came to the conclusion that the euro is more than just a currency. Greece is an important country in the EU. We always say that Greece is the cradle of democracy and now this country is leaving the eurozone?”
“I irrevocably decided that we should do everything in our power to keep Greece in the euro.”
During the most turbulent moments of the crisis, Merkel has admitted that the pressure brought her to tears. In her memoir 'Freedom', she recounted how, at the 2011 G20 summit in Cannes, she became visibly upset when world leaders pressed her to commit more German funds to the eurozone rescue.
“Das ist nicht fair,” she reportedly exclaimed—That is not fair—as tears welled in her eyes.
She also told those present, “Ich bringe mich nicht selbst um”—“I am not going to commit suicide”—underscoring the intense strain she felt as she tried to balance international expectations, the stability of the euro, and her domestic mandate.
Reflecting on the origins of the crisis, Merkel said she first grasped the severity of Greece’s fiscal problems in early 2010.
“I understood the magnitude of the problem in its entirety in February-March 2010,” she said, explaining that she was surprised how quickly pressure mounted for Germany to intervene.
“I did not understand, as everyone argued, why we should do something before Prime Minister Papandreou himself told us what he intended to do… Of course, they saw us as the strongest economy and so they expected us to solve the problem. But…the euro was not created…for one country to financially support another.”
She described tense meetings in 2010 when European leaders were divided over whether the Commission’s demand for 4% of GDP in spending cuts was politically feasible:
“Sarkozy said that such a thing could not be done because people would protest in the streets… I was waiting for the Greek Prime Minister to finally react.”
Merkel also discussed her first encounter with Alexis Tsipras, recalling a telling exchange when he visited Berlin.
“The beginning of the visit was a bit strange… Behind the Chancellery a group of the Left Party had gathered. I heard him get out of the car and listen to the Internationale… I passed by his group and I said that it was a bit strange that he went to the leftists first and he replied that we should always support our own. I found his answer clever.”
When Tsipras later called a referendum on the bailout terms, Merkel was caught off guard. “I didn’t know what to say," she recalled. "We had negotiated all night… He called us and told us that he would hold a referendum in a few days… I asked him what his position was and of course he said no… I lost it and he said ‘very interesting.’”
Despite the chaos, she said there was no plan for Grexit. “I had no plan for Grexit because I had not understood what was behind this move and of course I knew that the Greek people did not vote for remaining in or not in the euro,” she said
Looking back, Merkel insisted that Germany’s hard line was ultimately about strengthening Europe.
“When Europe backs down, it is very bad… That’s why I’ve received strong criticism since I always called things by their proper name, no matter how bad. Then I turned to the problem of Greece, but always with respect and love for the country.”
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