Greek Tsipras makes first visit to Germany amid bailout row
Mon Mar 23, 2015 9:9PM
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras (R) and
German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after a press conference in
Berlin, March 23, 2015. © AFP
Greek
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has made his first visit to Germany amid a
continued blame game between the two countries over Athens’s bailout
program.
On Monday, Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in the capital Berlin in an attempt to reboot the frayed ties between the two European states.
I have come here to "break the stereotypes that have grown in the past five years: The Greeks are not lazy and the Germans are not to blame for everything," he stated.
Tsipras gave a positive assessment of his talks with the German leader, saying Merkel "listens and wants to be constructive in the exchange of opinions."
Merkel, for her part, said the meeting was held in "a spirit of trust," but pointed out that the two sides did not make any new decision with regard to Athens’s much-debated bailout loans.
“Today we can only talk about things," Merkel said, adding that Germany is just one of the Eurozone member states who are to decide on Greece’s case.
Tsipras and Merkel also touched upon the issue of World War II reparations which has further soured relations between the two countries.
In recent weeks, Athens’s officials have urged Berlin to pay billions of euros in compensation for Nazi atrocities carried out during World War II in Greece.
The issue of war reparations has “no linkage at all with the financial crisis and the eurozone crisis … This is primarily a moral issue and I believe that we have to work together, our two countries, to address this moral issue,” Tsipras told reporters.
Athens-EU row
Over the past weeks, Athens and the EU have been at loggerheads over the country’s bailout loans.
The government of Tsipras, whose leftist Syriza party stormed to victory in January 25 elections, has tried to renegotiate the terms of the country’s €240-billion (USD 270 billion) bailout it received in 2010 in return for imposing harsh austerity measures.
During his electoral campaign, Tsipras vowed to reconsider the austerity measures that have caused mounting dissatisfaction in the country.
The measures have forced people to endure multiple tax increases, along with cuts in pension and salary, in exchange for bailout loans by the troika of lenders - the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB).
On February 20, a tentative agreement to extend Greece’s bailout program by four months was reached during preparatory talks between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde and Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
However, Greece was asked to submit a list of proposed reforms to the European Union (EU) in order for the agreement to take effect. The reforms were later approved by Eurozone finance ministers.
FNR/NT/AS
On Monday, Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in the capital Berlin in an attempt to reboot the frayed ties between the two European states.
"I did not come here to ask for financial help … I came for an exchange of our thoughts and opinions, to see where there is common ground and where there is disagreement," Tsipras told a press conference after the meeting.The Greek premier employed a conciliatory tone towards Germany, saying Berlin alone should not be held accountable for the financial quagmire Athens is stuck in.
I have come here to "break the stereotypes that have grown in the past five years: The Greeks are not lazy and the Germans are not to blame for everything," he stated.
Tsipras gave a positive assessment of his talks with the German leader, saying Merkel "listens and wants to be constructive in the exchange of opinions."
Merkel, for her part, said the meeting was held in "a spirit of trust," but pointed out that the two sides did not make any new decision with regard to Athens’s much-debated bailout loans.
“Today we can only talk about things," Merkel said, adding that Germany is just one of the Eurozone member states who are to decide on Greece’s case.
Tsipras and Merkel also touched upon the issue of World War II reparations which has further soured relations between the two countries.
In recent weeks, Athens’s officials have urged Berlin to pay billions of euros in compensation for Nazi atrocities carried out during World War II in Greece.
The issue of war reparations has “no linkage at all with the financial crisis and the eurozone crisis … This is primarily a moral issue and I believe that we have to work together, our two countries, to address this moral issue,” Tsipras told reporters.
Athens-EU row
Over the past weeks, Athens and the EU have been at loggerheads over the country’s bailout loans.
The government of Tsipras, whose leftist Syriza party stormed to victory in January 25 elections, has tried to renegotiate the terms of the country’s €240-billion (USD 270 billion) bailout it received in 2010 in return for imposing harsh austerity measures.
During his electoral campaign, Tsipras vowed to reconsider the austerity measures that have caused mounting dissatisfaction in the country.
The measures have forced people to endure multiple tax increases, along with cuts in pension and salary, in exchange for bailout loans by the troika of lenders - the European Commission, the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB).
On February 20, a tentative agreement to extend Greece’s bailout program by four months was reached during preparatory talks between Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief Christine Lagarde and Eurogroup chairman Jeroen Dijsselbloem.
However, Greece was asked to submit a list of proposed reforms to the European Union (EU) in order for the agreement to take effect. The reforms were later approved by Eurozone finance ministers.
FNR/NT/AS