A meeting between Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras and German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, took place before the EU Summit in Brussels yesterday.
Government sources said that the meeting lasted about 40 minutes and was an important and in-depth discussion on the issues of the Congress and the Greek economy.
At the meeting, the Prime Minister was accompanied by Minister of Finance, Gikas Hardouvelis. It was the first meeting between Angela Merkel and Gikas Hardouvelis. The two men informed the German Chancellor about the positive signs on the Greek economy, Greece’s credibility in the world’s financial markets and the expected growth of the GDP after six years of recession. They also mentioned the increase in the number of tourists visiting Greece and the visits of the Chinese Prime Minister and President in Greece.
Merkel was well aware of the economic developments in Greece and noted to Hardouvelis that Greece picked a very difficult day to hit the markets, showing that she realizes and sympathizes for the partial failure to attract the wanted figures from the Greek bond issue.
Angela Merkel, who recently visited China, exchanged views with Antonis Samaras regarding Europe’s economic relations with Beijing.
The issue of banks was also discussed during the brief meeting. The meeting took place just a few hours after the completion of the summer evaluation meetings with the troika of international lenders, who will be visiting Athens again in the second half of September, for a more in-depth evaluation. Athens wants Greece’s creditors to show more leniency towards lifting burdens from taxpayers and not delay the renegotiation of its debt, scheduled for October. The Greek government considers these two issues very crucial before going to the election of the new President of the Republic.
Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will have a luncheon at noon on Friday in Italy with his Italian counterpart Mateo Renji. Italy assumed the EU presidency after Greece.
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