Greece braces for Merkel visit

The Greek government Monday was in the midst of feverish preparations for Tuesday’s lightning visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel. The visit appears designed to stiffen Athens’s resolve to stay on the course of bailouts and austerity, and remain in the eurozone.

A lot of talk on the street in Athens revolved around why exactly she is coming. Government officials claim she really sympathizes with the Greek plight and wants to exercise a bit of public relations. But her visit tomorrow will last just seven hours, and people are wondering what can be accomplished in that short time.

Prime minister Antonis Samaras has been touring Europe recently trying to drum up support. But so far he has been coming up against scepticism that Greece is not reforming its economy anywhere fast enough to form the basis of a recovery. The coalition government which Samaras heads has been unwilling to tackle serious issues such as privatization and effective cost-cutting in the public sector.

Mrs Merkel will arrive to face a huge protest demonstration called by the largest opposition party, the leftwing Syriza. The police fear there’s likely to be violence, so they are cordoning off parts of the centre of Athens with steel barriers.

Mrs Merkel’s public relations exercise therefore could well turn out to have the opposite effect, as thousands of Greeks on the edge of the poverty line turn out to give her a dubious welcome.

Listen to regional correspondent John Carr’s full report from Athens: