Merkel Said to Avoid Meeting Tsipras, Doubt Tax Plans

  Arne Delfs

(Bloomberg) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel wants to avoid being drawn into a direct confrontation with Greek Premier Alexis Tsipras and is unlikely to agree to a bilateral meeting with him at a European Union summit next week, a German government official said.
The chancellor’s goal is to show Tsipras that he is isolated in Europe, according to the official, who asked not to be named because the discussions are private. What’s more, she sees little room for maneuver to provide further support for Greece and is skeptical about Tsipras’s claims that he can raise revenue by cutting corruption and increasing taxes on the rich, the official added.
Tsipras, who was elected Jan. 25 promising to cut debt and increase spending, is visiting Cyprus on Monday before trips to Rome, Paris and Brussels. He’s not scheduled to see Merkel, the biggest contributor to Greece’s financial rescue, until the gathering of EU leaders Feb. 12. Underscoring the tense relationship, Tsipras’s first official action after assuming office was
paying tribute to victims of Nazi occupation.

On both sides, the public message is one of goodwill.
“Europe will continue to show solidarity with Greece, as well as other countries particularly affected by the crisis, if these countries undertake their own reforms and savings efforts,” Merkel said in an interview with Hamburger Abendblatt published Saturday.
In Athens, “the Greek government wishes cooperation and contacts with all EU governments and all EU institutions,” spokesman Gabriel Sakellaridis said in a text message. “In the same context it wishes to have cooperation and contacts with the German government and we are certain that there’s also a mutual will from their side.”