Greek PM to visit Merkel as Spain turns screw on Athens
Published : Tuesday, 24 March, 2015, Time : 12:00 AM, View Count : 12
BERLIN, March
23: The leaders of debt-wracked Greece and economic powerhouse Germany
meet in Berlin Monday after weeks of bad feeling over Athens's borrowing
woes, bitter wartime memories and an offensive hand gesture. German
Chancellor Angela Merkel will receive Greece's radical left-wing Prime
Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has blamed her insistence on tough
austerity for his country's "humanitarian crisis" of poverty and mass
unemployment. Spain's Economy Minister Luis de Guindos turned the
screw on Athens another notch Sunday by insisting that it will not
receive any money until it implements all its proposed reforms. Merkel
also insists that if cash-strapped Greece wants more bailout loans, the
biggest share of which is financed by Germany, it must accept the
bitter medicine of cuts and reforms. Talking to the Greek newspaper
Kathimerini ahead of the visit, Tsipras said the meeting with Merkel
would be an opportunity to talk "without the pressure of any
negotiation". "It's important because we will be able to talk about
topics which are damaging Europe, and about how to improve relations
between our two countries," he said. ?AFP