Pulling plug on Greece sells in German town opposing Merkel plan

Page last updated at 06:51 GMT, Tuesday, June 12, 2012 - 11:51 EST

San Francisco Chronicle:

In the German town of Hassloch, sandwiched between vineyards and farms growing lettuce and asparagus, people have had enough of the debt crisis.

"We can't go on funding the Greeks, they're beyond help," Angelika Hoerner, 50, said as she served customers from behind a glass counter of her family's butcher shop in the town of 21,000 in western Rhineland-Palatinate state. "It's better to have an end with horror than horror without an end."

While nationwide polls show Germans are swinging against helping their poorer southern euro partner, opinions in Hassloch underscore a warning for Chancellor Angela Merkel as Greeks prepare for a second shot at electing a government on June 17.

The town has been used since 1985 by market-research company GfK SE as a miniature Germany to test products ranging from Unilever NV's Dove soap to Ferrero Spa Rondnoir chocolates before they are rolled out across the country. About 3,400 households have a GfK card that residents show at stores to register their purchases.

Read the whole story: San Francisco Chronicle