Greek and German leaders meet amid fears Athens may run out of money

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel have struck conciliatory tones at their Berlin summit, but remained vague on how to prevent Athens from running out of money.

Mrs Merkel said she wanted to see the Greek economy grow.

Mr Tsipras said it was better to talk with each other than about each other. 

Both countries have been at odds over Greece's efforts to renegotiate the terms of its international bailout.

"We want Greece to be strong economically, we want Greece to grow and above all we want Greece to to overcome its high unemployment," the German chancellor said at a press conference mid-way through talks, which are due to continue over a working dinner.

 

She said both countries approached the talks as partners in the EU as well as Nato, facing the same geopolitical challenges. "We both have a vested interest in building cooperation based on trust."

As one of 19 eurozone countries Germany was in no position to decide whether Greece's reform programme was appropriate or not, she said. An institutional framework to assess this was in place, she added.

Mr Tsipras noted that it was almost five years since the start of the Greek bailout, which required massive fiscal adjustments in his country.

"It has not been a success story," he said citing a 25% loss in GDP and 60% youth unemployment.