You're reading: ECB official: Greece should remain in euro

BERLIN— A top European Central Bank official says Greece should remain in the eurozone — arguing that, though an exit would be manageable, it would be very costly and push up unemployment in Europe. 

The comments by ECB executive board member Joerg Asmussen came ahead of Monday talks in Berlin between the German and Greek foreign ministers. Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras visits German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday.

German officials and lawmakers are making clear they have no appetite for granting Greece more time to comply with the terms of its rescue packages or other concessions.

Asmussen was quoted as telling the daily Berliner Zeitung it’s up to Greece to secure its future in the euro and cautioned that a Greek exit “would not be as orderly as some imagine.”