Greece Says It’ll Present E.U. With Planned Overhauls by Monday

By ALISON SMALE and NIKI KITSANTONISMARCH 24, 2015

The New York Times

BERLIN — Greece will present a detailed list of proposed overhauls to its eurozone partners by Monday, a government spokesman said, as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras met supporters and leading government ministers on his first official visit to Europe’s economic powerhouse, Germany.

At 40, the always tieless Mr. Tsipras has cut an unusual figure among European leaders since being elected less than two months ago. After stopping his convoy en route to Angela Merkel’s chancellery on Monday to greet friendly demonstrators, on Tuesday he visited the stark memorial in central Berlin to the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

It is rare for visiting leaders to stop at the 2,711 blocks of stone that make up the memorial to Europe’s murdered Jews.

The visit to the memorial next to the Brandenburg Gate followed more than five hours of talks and dinner with Ms. Merkel on Monday. It also came after more meetings on Tuesday with the two leading Social Democrats in Ms. Merkel’s coalition as well as with opposition leftists sympathetic to Mr. Tsipras and his pleas for a new approach to Greece’s debt crisis.

A Greek government spokesman, Gavriil Sakellaridis, told Mega TV that a list of overhauls would “be done by Monday at the latest.”

There was no indication whether the list had been discussed in any detail with Ms. Merkel. Her spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Monday’s talks had taken place “in a good and constructive atmosphere,” covering Greece’s situation, how the European Union works and bilateral cooperation.

At an evening news conference barely an hour into the talks, both leaders urged their compatriots to abandon stereotypes about each other’s countries. While guarded, they were clearly at pains to reduce the acrimony that has clouded the new Greek government’s dealings with Germany and its other eurozone partners in recent weeks.

One issue that has flared up is that of German reparations for the Nazi crimes committed during the occupation of Greece in World War II. Tens of thousands of Greeks were killed, and an estimated 80,000 Greek Jews were deported to concentration camps. The Nazis also exacted a forced loan from Greece that was not repaid in full.

Mr. Tsipras raised the loan as a matter of what he called ethical and moral concern. But he emphasized that “today’s Germany has nothing to do with the Germany of the Third Reich, which cost so much bloodshed.”

The visit to the memorial was sandwiched between talks with Germany’s foreign and economy ministers, both Social Democratic leaders in Ms. Merkel’s coalition government of center-right and center-left parties. Mr. Tsipras also met with two leaders of the Left Party, which has voiced strong support for the new Greek prime minister.

Portrayed in popular German news media and by many conservative politicians as irresponsible or at best naïve, Mr. Tsipras was hailed by the Left Party leader, Katja Kipping, as “highly responsible.” He deserves support for efforts to alleviate the suffering of hungry and homeless Greeks, she said on German television Tuesday morning.

Niki Kitsantonis reported from Athens.