In response to a German journalist’s question on the demarche made to the German government by Greece’s Ambassador in Berlin, with regard to public statements made by Germany’s Finance Minister following the recent ECOFIN meeting in Brussels, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Konstantinos Koutras made the following clarification:

“It was very mistakenly reported by a portion of the media, both domestically and internationally, that the demarche Greece made to the German government was supposedly based on an incorrectly translated phrase characterizing the Greek Finance Minister.

On the contrary, the reasons for the specific demarche’s being made to the government of a country that is a friend, partner and ally lie in the substance of what was said by Mr. Schaeuble.”