German Chancellor Angela Merkel met with the Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou to discuss Germany’s support to Greece’s financial crisis on Tuesday.
We have been watching this with satisfaction because we know that this requires political boldness. German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Greece
She expressed her support to Greece to help get back on it’s feet but say whether or not Berlin would offer financial support. Merkel failed to give any evidence of supporting Greece’s bid to improve the terms of the 110-billion-euro package when European Union leaders meet next month.
As reported in the Kathimerini, Papandreou said: “Angela, I want to thank you very much for what you have done, your support and your friendship,” before suggesting Greece and Germany could work more closely on tourism and “green growth”.
“Greece has started to put its house in order,” said Merkel.
“We have been watching this with satisfaction because we know that this requires political boldness.
“I believe that there are still some more things for Greece to do and the more decisive that it is in following the necessary policies, the more Germany will believe that it can succeed.”
Merkel implied she supported the euro, despite criticism from various quarters that her lack of support is being “un-European”. “We know that we need the single currency,” she said. “We are all focused on the euro.”
After Merkel and Papandreou met, Greece’s Finance Minister Giorgos Papaconstantinoi and his counterpart, Wolfgang Schauble, met to discuss the matter further. Papandreou then visited Helsinki to meet with Finland’s Prime Minister, Mari Kiviniemi, to gather support for Greece’s position ahead of a March 24 – 25 European Union leaders’ summit.
Source: Kathimerini