9, 2011, local time, German Chancellor Angela Merkel lightning visit to Greece's visit to the Greek is the first time since the 2009 debt crisis. Merkel stay in Athens for more than six hours during the period, respectively, met with Greek President Karolos Papoulias and Prime Minister Juan Reese held, in relation to the current reform process of the country, to cut the budget deficit, as well as control debt problems to discuss. Greece's two main trade unions and the opposition called on local people should be held massive demonstrations in Athens city to protest against Merkel visited.
Merkel First in the Prime Minister's Office and Samaras talks after the two held a joint news conference together. Samaras at the meeting that Greece is determined to achieve a commitment to overcome the crisis, he said that "the Greek people in bloodshed, but we decided to stay in the euro area". Merkel this positive response, she stressed that Greece remain in the euro zone. She also affirmed Greece's reform efforts, "Greece has made progress, for example, the primary deficit and the current account deficit has been slashed, but at the same time, she believes that the harsh austerity measures in Greece is necessary, and Greece reform has been accelerated, but there is still room for improvement. In addition, Merkel said that the next phase in aid payments to Greece is absolutely necessary, and Germany are pressing concerns of the forthcoming report of the "troika".
Subsequently, Merkel and President Karolos Papoulias met at the presidential residence, before leaving Greece to attend the business meeting of the German and Greek businessmen held in the Hilton Hotel.
Merkel said that Germany wants to be a good partner countries of Greece, but the local people are not grateful. In response to the protest rally was held today in the city of Athens, the Greek authorities have mobilized more than 7,000 police along the way for Merkel "escorting" blocked from the airport to the Prime Minister's Office and the vicinity of areas classified as full prohibition demonstration area. It is reported that the scale of this "Garcia" tightest since Clinton's visit to Greece in 1999. About 25,000 angry Greeks peacefully in Congress near the assembly, assembly, most of the time, but in the meantime there are a small number of protesters tried to storm the barricades outside the Congress building, police fired rounds of tear gas to disperse the crowd. Greek main opposition party, the extreme left-wing coalition leaders Qipulasi open to the demonstrators at the Constitutional Square outside parliament, said Merkel's visit to hope not to support Greece, but passed one of her support for the incumbent government to the brink of collapse.
As in the past three years, led by Angela Merkel, the German government has been insisting Greece to implement harsh austerity policies, the Greek national discontent Merkel unprecedented that she is the current severe economic contraction and the livelihood of significant deterioration in an important one of the reasons. According to the the Greece Bureau of Statistics announced on the 5th of this month the latest revised data show that the Greek economy shrank in the last five years than the initial value to be powerful, so far in 2008 to shrink to a level of 20% and has made Greece the number of unemployed reached record levels, a large number of household disposable income is substantially reduced and caught strapped predicament. The voice of protest against the austerity policies in Greece has been one after another.
Currently, Greece and the "troika" is 13.5 billion euros of austerity reforms to continue negotiations. The source believes that, although the Merkel visit hope only a short period of more than six hours, but in highlighting the support of the Greek reform, may also become a turning point in the Greek debt crisis.