One in four investment professionals in Germany accept it is “likely” Greece will leave the euro-zone, while a minority think its departure is “very likely”.

A survey by the German Federation of Financial Analysts and Asset Management (DVFA) among some of its 1,400 members found that only 3% believed the country’s exit from the single currency could be ruled out.

However, almost two-thirds said the impact of such a measure would be neutral and another 27% even think it might be a positive development for capital markets.

Only 35.8% expected a negative impact and Ralf Frank, secretary general at the DVFA, concurred that markets could see see a possible “cathartic effect” over the longer term.

In a statement, he pointed out a Greek exit would “certainly unsettle markets and further increase volatility” but only over the short-term.

Udo Bullman, MEP for the German social democratic party (SPD), a junior member in the German coalition government, expressed a markedly different sentiment at the beginning of the week.

In a statement, he stressed neither the European Union, nor Greece, could have an interest in forcing an exit from the euro-zone.

According to Bullman, Greece “will have to be saved from default” over the short-term.

But he added it was time for “a paradigm shift” with which “construction errors like the Troika” have to be amended and “replaced by a growth-oriented, democratically legitimised institution”.

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