The latest measures announced by the Greek government – a “thirteenth month” granted to small pensions and delaying the VAT increase on the islands – “fully comply with our fiscal targets” and are temporary measures that Greece has taken since the budget surplus is higher than expected, said Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras following the European summit on Friday 16 December (see other article).
Tsipras said he had not been surprised by the request from German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble, who called for short-term debt relief measures to be frozen. He had already in the past noted similar attitudes from the German government’s paymaster. The Greek prime minister will have lunch with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Friday. “I’ll speak about it with Mr Tsipras tomorrow, even though I don’t intend to lead the negotiations”, Merkel said.
“We can’t ask for more effort from Greece beyond the previous agreements. The burden on Greece has to be lightened, along lines to be agreed”, said French President François Hollande who held bilateral talks with Tsipras on the sidelines of the summit. (Original version in French by Élodie Lamer with Sophie Petitjean)