German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble expressed his support for Greece’s impressive economic reform program during his 8 hour visit to Athens on Thursday.
He pledged to back with 100 million euroes an investment fund to support small businesses.
Security in Athens was tight during the visit of the German finance minister who held talks with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras and a number of Greek Ministers, including his counterpart Yiannis Stournaras.
The German Minister appealed to Greeks to “stop the discussion about a new debt haircut”, saying that “it is not to your benefit.”
He added, however, that the issue could be revisited in late 2014 “if Greece has implemented reforms and achieved a primary surplus.”
During a television interview with SKAI, Schaeuble describing the boom in the tourism sector as “a success story for this year” and mentioned the boost in Greek exports, particularly to non-European countries.
On the contentious issue of Greece’s long-standing demand for war reparations from Germany for losses sustained during World War II, Schaeuble stated that “the issue of reparations has been dealt with everywhere in Europe”.
“The legal issues have been settled. Everyone knows this, all Greek governments knew this and that’s why there was never an issue,” he said.
Read more on this topic in tomorrow’s English edition of Neos Kosmos.
