Berlin maintains firm line on Greece (on austerity)

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Source: Financial Times

The German government stuck to its insistence on Wednesday that Greece must comply with the reform and austerity conditions agreed in its €130bn rescue package, but Berlin did not flatly reject any extension of the debt repayment terms it faces.

Angela Merkel, German chancellor, will meet Antonis Samaras, the Greek prime minister, for bilateral talks in Berlin next week, at which “everything can be put on the table”, according to Steffen Seibert, the chancellor’s spokesman.

But he stressed that Germany’s attitude –which was the same as the European position –was based on Greek fulfilment of the memorandum of understanding agreed by Athens with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Read more: http://liveweb.archive.org/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/576fec4c-e6f4-11e1-8a74-00144feab49a.html

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1. Berlin controls Greece for the second time in 70 years nt