EUROZONE-GREECE/GERMANY VISIT REAX Greeks pleased with outcome of Tsipras visit to Berlin

Record ID: 496365

  • Title: EUROZONE-GREECE/GERMANY VISIT REAX Greeks pleased with outcome of Tsipras visit to Berlin
  • Date: 24th March 2015
  • Summary: ATHENS, GREECE (MARCH 24, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ALONG SYNTAGMA SQUARE / VIEW OF PARLIAMENT IN BACKGROUND FOUNTAIN WATER SPLASHING / PEOPLE WALKING AT SQUARE PEOPLE ENTERING AND EXITING METRO STATION (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, NIKOS KONTRAS, AGED 36, SAYING: "I would prefer that they were a bit more decisive but I am not displeased. Things are much better than with the previous governments. I hope they continue with an even stronger stance because this is why we voted for them, those of us who did vote for them." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, EVANGELIA, AGED 60, SAYING: "We are waiting, we are waiting, we cannot say anything. For the time being I cannot say anything. I am pleased so far and we are waiting for the best." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, DIMITRIS GLYKOS, AGED 51, SAYING: "In my opinion it was successful, I think we are on a good way and I believe that we can win, a lot of work needs to be done, we must work and if we do so we will benefit." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, EVRIDIKI KOULOURI, AGED 56, SAYING: "I think that Tsipras is doing well, I am pleased, I have optimism. We'll see how it goes." (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) ATHENS RESIDENT, MARIA, AGED 60, SAYING: "It's better, it's better. This should have happened because when you owe you cannot have too many demands, you have to use diplomacy. It's the best, we said that we needed to rise, to stand up but throwing punches is not to our benefit." NEWS KIOSK MEN LOOKING AT NEWSPAPER HEADLINES AT NEWS STAND 'ETHNOS' NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING (Greek): "THE ICE BROKEN IN BERLIN" NEWSPAPERS 'DIMOKRATIA' NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING (Greek): "THE MERKEL LIST" PEOPLE LOOKING AT NEWSPAPERS 'I EFIMERIDA TON SYNTAKTON' HEADLINE READING (Greek): "LIVING AGREEMENT, TSIPRAS AND MERKEL SEEK COMMON GROUND IN BERLIN" VARIOUS OF "KATHIMERINI" NEWSPAPER HEADLINE READING (Greek): "EFFORT TO MELT THE ICE"
  • Embargoed: 8th April 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Greece
  • Country: Greece
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA82NA4NNO90BX3THX29D3A43NB
  • Story Text: Greeks in the capital Athens on Tuesday (March 24), appeared pleased with the outcome of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and said they trusted the Prime Minister to do the best for the country.
    After days of tensions between paymaster Germany and debt-stricken Greece, Tsipras and Merkel put on a public display of mutual goodwill on Monday (March 23), appealing to Greeks and Germans to set aside recrimination and national stereotypes and work for a better European future.
    Athens residents welcomed this improvement in the Greek-German relations but some said Tsipras should keep up with his dynamic stance.
    "I would prefer that they were a bit more decisive but I am not displeased. Things are much better than with the previous governments. I hope they continue with an even stronger stance because this is why we voted for them, those of us who did vote for them," said 36 year-old Nikos Kontras.
    "In my opinion it was successful, I think we are on a good way and I believe that we can win, a lot of work needs to be done, we must work and if we do so we will benefit," said 51 year-old shop owner Dimitris Glykos.
    "It's better, it's better. This should have happened because when you owe you cannot have too many demands, you have to use diplomacy. It's the best, we said that we needed to rise, to stand up but throwing punches is not to our benefit."
    The meeting of Tsipras and Merkel in Berlin dominated the Greek media for a second day. "Living Agreement," ran on its front page leftist 'I Efimerida ton Syntakton' while conservative 'Kathimerini' headline read "Effort to Melt the Ice".
    Despite warm words on the new leftist premier's first official visit to Berlin, it was unclear if Tsipras and Merkel had narrowed differences on economic reforms Greece must implement to win urgently needed fresh cash from its creditors.
    Tsipras insisted he was not in Germany to solve Greece's pressing liquidity problems but to find common ground to move forward in the euro zone.
    He condemned as an "unjust provocation" a German magazine cover depicting Merkel amid Nazi officers by the Acropolis in Athens.
    And in a rebuke to his own justice minister, he said no one in Greece was considering seizing or auctioning off German property for war reparations.
    Merkel said Germany considered the issue of reparations for the Nazi occupation in World War Two politically and legally resolved, but she was aware of how Greeks had suffered.
    She hinted that Berlin may increase a fund created last year for youth exchanges, for which parliament has granted 1 million euros a year for three years.
    The chancellor made clear there could be no breakthrough to provide fresh funds for Greece from their talks, since that was up to the 19-nation Eurogroup of euro zone finance ministers.
    Tsipras promised euro zone leaders last week he would present a comprehensive list of reform proposals soon to unlock aid, without which EU officials say Greece may run out of money by late April.
    His pledge has encountered deep scepticism in Germany, a stickler for fiscal discipline.
    Tsipras will visit Germany's Holocaust memorial on Tuesday on the second day of his visit to the country that his radical leftist government has demanded pay World War Two reparations.
    He will also meet with leaders of three left-leaning parties on Tuesday - Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Economy Minister Sigmar Gabriel as well as leaders of the two opposition parties - the radical Left party and Greens.
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