The Tsipras-Schulz meeting in Athens attracted its fair share of international media coverage on Thursday, given that it marked the first tet-a-tete between the newly elected radical leftist Greek leader with a top European official.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted one of Schulz’s comments in its coverage:
“In some open discussions in Europe there are fears that Mr. Tsipras will take his own path. Today, I established that this is not the case. The government of Mr. Tsipras intends to submit proposals and discuss these proposals. The Greek government wants a mutually acceptable solution. This is a very satisfactory message.”
In taking a more negative view, the euobserver’s correspondent quoted Schulz as saying Greece is headed for “very controversial” talks with its EU partners and that disagreements on “several points” were apparent.
“There is a diplomatic phrase: ‘The talks were open and constructive’. That is a phrase that is always used in press conferences when there has been a dispute. So that’s why I want to say here: Yes, the talks were open and constructive,” Europe’s top social democrat said, adding however, that in his view Tsipras wasn’t interested in taking any unilateral decisions.
The Guardian closed its coverage with the phrase “Martin Schulz ended what will go down as the first visit of an EU official to Greece since the radical leftists stormed to power, saying: ‘I hope that your wonderful country will remain on a European course as it always has’.”
Dpa’s German-language service cited Schulz’s statements that he welcomed a commitment by Tsipras that his government aims to combat fraud and corruption in the country.
It quoted Tsipras as saying Athens also wanted an international conference to discuss its debt and that the leftist government will present a list of proposals for discussion with its euro zone partners.