The German Finance Ministry, in the most categorical way, and in response to media reports about the Grexit project, denies that Wolfgang Schaeuble had ever in the past called for a Grexit, while the ministry states that the aim of the German FinMin’s efforts were always to maintain cohesion of the eurozone and the stability of the euro.

Mr. Schaeuble seems to be immovable from his position, according to a Deutsche Welle report, stating that Germany wants Greece in the euro and that it is up to Athens to decide whether to stay or not. The same source confirms that there were some scenarios of a Grexit being examined in the past by various bodies and EU institutions, and how it could have affected the EU. This was never done in a coordinated fashion, however, as Financial Times seems to have suggested. In fact, Peter Spiegel is the columnist, who named it “Plan Z”.

Respective analyses of what would have occurred in the event of a Grexit were also done by the German Finance Ministry. The same source notes that it would have been “negligent” of them not to have done so. In any case, the Finance Ministry confirms that Mr. Spiegel had visited the ministry several times in the recent past and had the opportunity to discuss this with officials.

Finally, on the mention in a recent book by former U.S. Treasury Timothy Geithner on his conversation with Mr. Schaeuble in the summer of 2012, the ministry recommends a careful reading of the subsection as Wolfgang Schaeuble had said that he was never in favor of a Grexit, but there are many in Europe who were.