Tsipras, Merkel Meeting Assessed Positively
Wednesday, 25 March 2015
The government has positively assessed the meeting between Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel that took place on Monday. “We return from Berlin happy because Mr Tsipras above all posed a number of issues to Ms Merkel and to the German people” government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis on Tuesday told Mega TV.
“The issues that Mr Tsipras raised on Monday proved that he went to Germany to present the Greek government’s positions,” he said and added that the Greek premier “spoke of the social condition in Greece in the last five years, he basically spoke of a policy that has not helped neither on a macroeconomic nor a social level, he spoke of the problems that exist in Greece and have nothing to do with the memoranda, he spoke of the issues of the so-called occupation loan and the German reparations and of course of the issue of corruption and Siemens.” He clarified that they discussed the outline of the reforms and not the full list, noting that “There was a discussion on a level which was not that profound and specific, since this was not the aim of the meeting. This is not the level on which reforms will be presented.”
Asked if the German Chancellor found this outline satisfactory, Sakellaridis responded that “there were certain points of convergence” and that “there was a constructive discussion on those issues.” “A communication channel between the German Chancellor and the Greek premier has been restored,” he noted and added that “the common points of reference in relation with Greece’s reform programme have been found.”
“The issues that Mr Tsipras raised on Monday proved that he went to Germany to present the Greek government’s positions,” he said and added that the Greek premier “spoke of the social condition in Greece in the last five years, he basically spoke of a policy that has not helped neither on a macroeconomic nor a social level, he spoke of the problems that exist in Greece and have nothing to do with the memoranda, he spoke of the issues of the so-called occupation loan and the German reparations and of course of the issue of corruption and Siemens.” He clarified that they discussed the outline of the reforms and not the full list, noting that “There was a discussion on a level which was not that profound and specific, since this was not the aim of the meeting. This is not the level on which reforms will be presented.”
Asked if the German Chancellor found this outline satisfactory, Sakellaridis responded that “there were certain points of convergence” and that “there was a constructive discussion on those issues.” “A communication channel between the German Chancellor and the Greek premier has been restored,” he noted and added that “the common points of reference in relation with Greece’s reform programme have been found.”