Greek government pleased by the political support from Berlin

The Greek government took a deep breath after the meeting of Premier Samaras with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The political support of Berlin comes at a time when the problems in the negotiations with the Troika cause side effects in social and political stability. Merkel asked Troika to accelerate the discussions and finish the negotiations before Greece takes over the EU presidency, leaving the fiscal gap of 2014 for the coming months.

It is important that the German government anticipates a budget surplus. The Greek government believes that the Troika for reasons it does not understand or does not want to say, plays its own game, falls into contradictions and is moving to a different wavelength from the German leadership. It rejects the possibility of a role distribution, with the Troika and Brussels playing the evil one and the German government playing the good one in this phase.

Partners of Samaras said it was particularly important that the German government uploaded in its website the snapshot where Merkel says to Samaras that she wants the Greek effort to succeed. It is clear that both the Chancellor of Germany and Schaeuble want to boost the Greek government towards the European elections without deviating from their own program.

A possible confirmation of the success of Greece will be a confirmation of the German leadership of Europe and the strategy of austerity it has imposed as the only way for the EU to exit the crisis.

But the problems for the Greek government remain as it might have avoided the new horizontal cuts in wages and pensions, but the structural changes have budgetary costs for the social and professional groups they are targeting. Furthermore, they must overcome the problems in the current negotiation, like the Greek defense industry, the elimination of property auctions and the deregulation of layoffs in the private sector.

The Greek side, however, did not get what it wanted in relation to the debt arrangement. Samaras accepted that the confirmation of the primary surplus will come in April and then will start the discussion on the setting of Greek debt. Any decisions are postponed until after the European elections.