A month and a half before the European elections on 25 May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday went on an official visit to Athens, where she met Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, at the head of a grand coalition between conservatives and social democrats. The Chancellor's last visit to Greek territory dates back to October 2012, when the capital was set on fire by angry protesters against the austerity imposed by Berlin.
This time, however, in the aftermath of the bomb that exploded near the Greek central bank, there were no brutal clashes, but only marches and protests by the left-wing opposition. In particular, the Greek candidate for the Presidency of the European Commission, Alexis Tsipras, observed that the vast majority of the Greek people no longer support the policies promoted by the Chancellor and very soon Germany too will have to deal with a new government that will unique to the Greeks. But Angela Merkel, for now, is going straight. In the joint press conference with Prime Minister Samaras, you said you were happy that Greece is finally on the right track and that, despite the enormous sacrifices, new job and investment opportunities will soon open up for the many unemployed.
In this regard, Merkel and Samaras have signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a fund with German-Hellenic participation for the financing of small and medium-sized enterprises. The Chancellor then celebrated Athens' return to international markets after years of direct funding obtained from the Troika. The five-year bonds placed on the market amount to a figure of 3 billion (with requests for over 20 billion) at a rate of 4,75%, much lower than expected. The new auctions of Greek bonds bode well, said the Chancellor, as well as the data on economic growth for 2014 recently released by the IMF: “Thanks to the policies of this government which have caused suffering to many but have also very hard for the executive itself – Mrs. Merkel further clarified – today we can say that Greece has achieved its goal, all the indicators show an improvement and the budgetary situation is better than we hoped”.
This result, Horst Reichenbach, head of the European Union's task force for Greek reforms, told the weekly Der Spiegel, would not have been possible without Greece's agreement with the Troika. On the other hand, however, Athens certainly cannot stop doing the infamous homework, given that the debt/GDP ratio remains very high (around 170%), underlined some Christian Democrat politicians. Yesterday's meeting was positive for the electoral advantage of the Chancellor and the Greek premier. Merkel can in fact return home and reassure party and press colleagues, confirming that there will be no new bailout packages for Greece, nor that there will be a new haircut on the debt, as insinuated by the IMF at the beginning of the year; the second will be able to use the good forecasts of economic growth and the return to the markets to repel the advance of Tsipras' far left in the European elections.
