Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras is visiting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin on Monday. He has already warned Merkel that Athens will be unable to make debt repayments if the EU fails to unlock financial aid to Greece. The message was sent in a letter amid concerns that Athens would fall short of making pension and wage payments in April.

Tsipras is visiting Merkel following an invitation she extended to the Greek leader last week amid tensions between Athens and Berlin. Relations continue to be critical following the January 25 elections that led to the rise of the Radical Left Coalition (SYRIZA). Athens, on the one hand, has called for Merkel’s coalition government to pay back a forced loan that Nazi’s took from Greece during World War II, stripping the country’s reserves. Germany on the other hand eyes the SYRIZA-Independent Greeks (ANEL) coalition with suspicion with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble going so far as to refer to Greece’s calls for a new agreement as a “Trojan Horse”.

The climate was slightly more positive in recent days, especially following direct consultations between Merkel and Tsipras and meetings they had in the framework of the EU Council in Brussels.

At the meeting in Berlin, Tsipras is expected to present a package of Greek reforms over the next trimester in great detail. He will need to be persuasive and turn on the charm if Merkel is to open the cannister of funding that would give the Greek economy the liquidity it needs from the European Central Bank (ECB). Tsipras states that the meeting will not take place under the pressure of negotiations, however the urgency of Greece’s state of affairs cannot pass by unnoticed.

The SYRIZA leadership is holding onto its reservations and avoiding to raise the bar of expectations. Instead, it is waiting to see how Berlin will react to Tsipras’ proposals. For this reason, the reforms include specific activities with clearcut time frames and exact expenditure. Tsipras will give his assurance to Merkel that Athens does not desire a return to deficits, a Grexit nor taking unilateral actions such as a stoppage in payments. He will call for time and space to develop his government’s policies without a condition of economic asphyxiation.

There will also be a focus on bilateral relations, such as Athens interest in opening discussion on German reparations and Germany’s forced loan. These are painful matters, annoying to Berlin, that is not interested in opening the door to such discussion.

Tsipras is leaving Athens at 11 a.m. on the government’s private jet. At 5 p.m. (Greek time) Tsipras will be greeted with honors given to a head of state followed by a meeting with Tsipras. At 7 p.m. (local time), the two leaders will make statements followed by a question time.

Apart from the two leaders, the meeting will also be attended by 5-membered delegations from both sides.