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Six months after bailing-out Greece, the Germans are confronted with another rescue. This time Ireland. What especially galls some Germans is that Ireland's per capita annual income is around €34,000 – 4,000 more than Germany's €30,000.
"The poor Germans are going to have to feed the rich debtors," wrote Die Welt.
"If we carry the financial can for Greece and then this Irish bailout, we will never shake off the role," said a Berlin market vendor. "Before we know it, it'll be Portugal next. And then Italy maybe?"
GUARDIAN/ OPINION: Alan Posener : "I'm sick of Germans griping about having to fund bailout packages for Greece and Ireland. And sicker of politicians and the media stoking the fires of self-righteous nationalism. For a start, the German taxpayer has as yet not paid a single euro. The funds are guarantees, intended to reassure private investors that eurozone states will not default. Even if push came to shove they'd be loans, not gifts outright. Second, the Greek bailout was also a bailout of German – and French – banks, who had stacks of Greek bonds in their vaults, and of German investors, who held and hold all sorts of "financial products" in which high-yield (because risky) Greek, Irish, and Portuguese bonds play a large role."
FOR MORE,SEE:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/nov/17/germany-ireland-bailout-griping
