Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras reportedly touched on his leftist government’s ongoing row with the IMF and the latter’s repeated warnings of leaving the Greek bailout program, in talks in Berlin on Friday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The Greek side, albeit in an unofficial manner, circulated Tsipras’ “discussion points” with the powerful German leader, whose country is Greece’s biggest European creditor and the biggest stakeholder in the European Stability Mechanism (ESM).
Tsipras, who has seen his personal appeal and his government’s popularity plummet in all mainstream opinion polls over the past few months, stressed the need for an immediate conclusion of the second review of the Greek program (third bailout), the implementation of short-term debt relief measures for the country as well as the re-inclusion of Greek bonds in the ECB’s QE program — a desperately needed economic and political “trifecta” to keep him in power.
According to unnamed sources close to the prime minister’s office in Athens, Tsipras even included the pending political change in Washington in his reasoning to press the IMF to decide over its participation in the Greek program — as well as the urgent closing of the second review.
As previously cited by the two leaders, the Cyprus issue and increasingly complex EU-Turkey issues were also discussed.
Additionally, the Greek side pointed to the importance of maintaining the EU-Turkey agreement for the refugee/migrant problem, and in getting other EU countries to share the burden of hosting legitimate refugees.
Tsipras eportedly briefed Merkel in detail over recent developments on the Cyprus issue and Athens’ positions.
