Greek president slams German finance minister for "insults"

Feb 16, 2012, 11:29 GMT

Athens - Greek President Karolos Papoulias has slammed Germany's finance minister for making 'insulting' comments about his country, stoking already strained relations between the two eurozone countries, Greek newspaper reports said Thursday.

'I cannot accept Mr (Wolfgang) Schaeuble insulting my country,' said Papoulias during an unofficial lunch at the Defence Ministry on Wednesday. The comments, uncharacteristically blunt, were later made public to the Greek press.

'Who is Mr. Schaeuble to insult Greece? Who are the Dutch? Who are the Finnish? We were always proud to defend not just our own freedom, not just in our own country, but the freedom of all of Europe.'

Schaeuble has said repeatedly criticized Greece, saying it needs to make dramatic reforms.

Relations between Berlin and Athens, which have been strained since the start of the economic crisis in 2009, have deteriorated further recently over Greece's failure to meet targets set by the European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) in return for financial aid.

Greek protesters have repeatedly burned German flags at demonstrations in recent months and newspapers have run front page pictures of Chancellor Angela Merkel in a Nazi uniform.

Papoulias speaks fluent German. When Greece was ruled by a military junta (1967-74) the president went into exile in Germany, studying law in Munich and Cologne.

Eurogroup president Jean-Claude Juncker said Wednesday that Greece had finally delivered the necessary assurances for a second bailout, worth 130 billion euros (169 billion dollars) and that he expected the package to be approved on Monday.