The leader of Greece's main opposition New Democracy party, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, had a brief meeting yesterday with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the sidelines of the European People's Party (EPP) summit in Brussels, confirming also an official visit to Berlin on February 13.
The European People's Party (EPP) is a European political party founded by Christian democratic parties in 1976 with a broad membership which includes liberal-conservative parties and parties with other centre-right political perspectives.
According to sources from New Democracy, Mitsotsakis took the opportunity to present to the European Commission First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, European Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for the Euro and Social Dialogue Valdis Dombrovskis and European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs Pierre Moscovici his party's plan for Greece's exit from the crisis.
Mitsotakis outlined his party’s view that a front-loaded reform programme with lower primary surpluses could bring better results adding that the "unilateral actions on the part of the Greek government had strengthened the arguments of those wanting to create problems for the conclusion of the second review."
The meetings also dealt with the refugee and migration crisis, the disproportionate burden placed on the islands of the north-eastern Aegean, and the Greek government's responsibility for delays in processing asylum applications.
