German regional minister sees Greek euro exit by year's end

BERLIN (AFP) - Greece should exit the euro zone by year's end and not receive any more aid, a German regional finance minister has said in a Sunday newspaper interview, further stirring debate on the issue.

Mr Markus Soeder, finance minister in southern Bavaria state and a member of the Christian Social Union (CSU), the region's sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU, said the euro itself was "right and important".

"But when a country like Greece on a continuing basis cannot pay back debts, it must leave the euro zone," he told Sunday's mass-circulation Bild am Sonntag newspaper in an interview.

"The way I foresee it, Greece should quit by the end of the year. Any new aid, any easing of the conditions would be the wrong path," he said.