Greek President Karolos Papoulias’ meeting with main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras is underway.

In the conversation they had before their meeting, Mr. Papoulias stressed the need for basic understanding among political parties and minimum consensus on economic issues as well as the international problems of Greece.

“Perhaps I have been influenced by my term in the Foreign Ministry, but national issues are at a crucial point and all political powers must jointly deal with these problems. There must be a minimum of consensus. As for the rest, we’ll see. If this consensus is achieved, the rest can be discussed,” Mr. Papoulias noted.

On his part, Mr. Tsipras said that he took the initiative to meet with the Greek President because things are at a critical crossroads for the country. “The options are critical, while the situation in society is even more difficult. We should give a message that Democracy is not a risk and we can have the basic understanding. We must give people the chance at the critical crossroads to choose the path that they must follow.”

A meeting between President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras will follow later in the day.