Merkel Backs Greece Staying in Euro If It Pursues Reforms

German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed keeping Greece in the euro area, saying she has consistently sought to avoid the most-indebted nation’s exit from the currency bloc.

“We need to tell people, and to some extent market participants, that the chancellor and the German government have always acted in such a way that Greece remains in the euro area,” Merkel said in London today. It was her first public comment on Greece since Der Spiegel magazine reported this week that her government was ready to let the country leave the euro.