Big Debtors Could Get Kicked Out of Eurozone, Says Germany’s Merkel

German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivers a speech during a debate about the budget at the Bundestag, on March 17, in Berlin. The 16-nation eurozone must have the option of removing one of its members from the club if a country persistently breaks its fiscal rules, German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (Michael Kappeler/AFP/Getty Images)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that eurozone countries should be able to expel countries that repeatedly break the stability pact. She made her comments during the national 2010 budget meeting in the Bundestag.

Greece’s huge public deficit, 13 percent of GDP, has driven the euro into harsh times. As head of the largest European economy, Merkel says the EU lacks the right instruments to cope with such a crisis. Merkel said long-term stability of the euro should be the main focus of any solution so a country may have to be expelled from the eurozone, reported Dow Jones Deutschland.

Bringing such a measure into effect would require unanimity from the eurozone countries, meaning Greece would have to vote in favor of their own expulsion.