Official: Greece needs solidarity from Germany, but not seeking direct financial aid

Greece seeks German solidarity but no direct aid

BERLIN — Greece needs a strong vote of confidence from Germany and other European nations but hasn’t sought direct financial aid and believes it can overcome its debt crisis alone, a senior Greek official said Thursday.

Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou is expected in Berlin on Friday to meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country has the 16-nation eurozone’s biggest economy.

“What we expect from our EU partners and above all Germany — because Germany’s voice is a particularly important one in this context — is a clear expression of solidarity and confidence” in the Greek government and its new austerity plan, Deputy Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas told ARD television.

Droutsas stressed that “the Greek government at no point demanded or asked for direct financial support from its EU partners or, naturally, from Germany.”

“We are of the opinion that we can master this crisis alone,” he said. “What we need is a really strong expression of solidarity.”

Germany has stressed repeatedly that Greece bears the main responsibility for overcoming its debt crisis. Merkel has welcomed Greece’s announcement on Wednesday of deeper austerity measures but stressed that her meeting with Papandreou would “not be about pledges of aid.”

Frank Schaeffler, a lawmaker with the Free Democrats, the junior partner in Merkel’s governing coalition, was quoted as telling the Bild daily that the chancellor must not promise aid.

“The Greek state must part radically with stakes in firms and also sell property, for example uninhabited islands,” Schaeffler said, according to the report.

Droutsas brushed aside that suggestion.

“We must concentrate on the full implementation, the serious implementation of this package of (austerity) measures,” he told ARD. “I think further advice is not necessarily fitting at this point in time.”