Main opposition (SYRIZA) leader Alexis Tsipras met with German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble yesterday during a four-day visit to Berlin.

During the meeting [VIDEO], the leader of SYRIZA stressed the need for an alternative economic policy underlining that "austerity programmes have failed in Europe and especially in Greece" and that "the memorandums of austerity have been rejected by life itself."

The German Finance Minister dismissed any alternative to the Greek fiscal adjustment programme, urging Tsipras to back the austerity plan attached to Greece’s international loans. On January 13, Tsipras attended an event organized by Germany's Left Party (Die Linke) and ahead of his meeting with Schaeuble he also met with representatives of the SPD, FDP, and Die Grünen parties, while today he is expected to conclude his visit, addressing the Die Linke Parliamentary Group.

Meanwhile, in an exclusive interview with Deutsche Welle, Tsipras admitted that "it’s a given that relations will become smoother between Greece’s institutional opposition and Germany, a country that has a defining role in European and Greek developments."

Kathimerini: Tsipras meets Schaeuble in Berlin