New | Bundesbank says Greece's exit will not mean end to euro
Weidmann warns of contagion effects but rules out change to monetary union
The euro will not fall if Greece quits the single currency area, the head of the German central bank said in a newspaper interview published on Thursday.
"The continued existence of the euro is not tied to the development in Greece. But certain contagion effects cannot be ruled out because the character of monetary union would be altered by a 'Grexit'," Jens Weidmann, the president of the Bundesbank, told French daily Les Echos.
The interview was also published in the Spanish and Italian daily newspapers El Mundo and La Stampa.
A so-called Grexit would be an exit by Greece from the euro region.
"The character of monetary union would also change if individual countries do not fulfil their responsibilities for a stable currency and turn monetary union into a transfer union which their populations never voted for," Weidmann said. "That is also a contagion effect, the negative consequences of which should not be underestimated."
He insisted that "the responsibility over whether Greece stays in the euro zone lies with the Greek government".