German MP says Berlin should help Greece leave euro

(Reuters) - Germany should constructively support any efforts by Greece to abandon the euro and return to the drachma, a leading MP in Germany's junior coalition Free Democrats (FDP) said on Saturday.

"If Greece wants to leave the euro zone, that is its own autonomous decision," Frank Schaeffler, an FDP member in the finance committee of the Bundestag, told Reuters.

"And Germany should accompany them constructively."

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou earlier on Saturday denied there was even unofficial discussion over Greece quitting the euro zone and asked that his troubled country be "left alone to finish its task.

On Friday, influential German weekly Der Spiegel reported talks were held to discuss the possibility, raised by Athens, of Greece withdrawing from the 17-member euro zone, as well as the idea of restructuring Greece's 327 billion euro ($470 billion) sovereign debt.....read on