Single currency 'will weather storm if Greece is forced out of eurozone' Wolfgang Schaeuble, the German finance minister, signalled that Germany has accepted the imminent fracturing of the eurozone and is convinced that new EU fiscal controls, including a 500 billion euro (£400 billion) bail-out fund, leaves Europe's single currency robust enough to survive. Time is running out unless Greece can form a new government without elections in June. At the end of next month there is deadline for Greece's parliament to approve a further 11.5 billion euros in cuts in return for EU aid payments. Without the cash Greece will go bust in July. Mr Schaeuble's comments come as international banks begin preparing for Greece to leave the euro and as pessimistic spring economic forecasts from the European Commission warned that the EU was in "technical recession." Olli Rehn, the EU's economic and monetary commissioner, yesterday (FRI) presented grim growth forecasts that had been "substantially revised downwards" for 2012. "It will be a long and stony road before the EU economy reaches sustained growth," he said. The situation remains extraordinarily fragile and the risk of a renewed aggravation of the crisis is still present. Hartmut Grossman, of ICS Risk Advisors, who works with banks on America's Wall Street, said that financial institutions were ready as the latest Greek political brought matters "to a little bit of a head." There really has been contingency planning at all of the financial institutions for that to happen. Greece leaving the euro zone is not a new idea," he said.