Berlin--German Chancellor Angela Merkel faces growing dissent within her conservative party over efforts to keep Greece in the eurozone after months of drawn-out, quarrelsome debt talks.
Even Merkel's long serving and loyal finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble appears to be loosing patience with Greece, and analysts have noted a recent divergence in their approaches to resolving the crisis.
If and when a deal is finally clinched, the chancellor will, despite her popularity, have to invest much political capital to keep her conservatives on side, especially if an agreement requires the German parliament's approval, analysts say.
Popular at home for her eurozone crisis leadership and her tight grip on the public purse of Germany, Europe's effective paymaster, Merkel must also worry about the consequences a "Grexit" would have for the single currency union.
She struck an upbeat note heading into yet another crunch meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras on Wednesday, saying "if there's a will, there's a way" and again stated her goal -- to keep Greece in the euro fold.
But the best the three-way Brussels meet with French President Francois Hollande could muster, at least publicly, was a declared accord that talks must, once more, be "intensified".
"The next futile Greek summit!" fumed the mass-market Bild daily which has taken a tough line with Athens since the start of the crisis, as the country has struggled to reduce its towering debt mountain and avoid defaulting.
AFP
