...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
and International Monetary Fund officials on the country's bailout conditions and rejecting new loans offered for February.
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said Greece had no intention of talking with the negotiators from the lending "troika" (the European Union, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund) about an extension of the existing bailout, and instead said he would rather meet with eurozone leaders.
"Our intention is to -- with an absolute will to cooperate -- to persuade our partners ... that our common interest in Europe is served best by a new agreement that will emerge following talks between all Europeans,'' he said.
Germany Warns Greece Heading Wrong Way as Tsipras Shunned
[BLOOMBERG] Greece's government risks isolation in the European Union...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing...
by threatening to break ranks on sanctions against Russia and ditch its bailout deal, German Chancellor Angela Merkel
...current chancellor of Germany. She was educated in East Germany when is was still run by commies, but in 1989 got involved with the growing democracy movement when the Berlin Wall fell. Merkel is sometimes referred to by Germans as
Mom...
's minister for European affairs said.
"Greece is firmly anchored in the mainstream of the European Union," Michael Roth, who's also deputy foreign minister, said in an interview. "I can only hope that this is where it wants to stay."
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's government, sworn in Tuesday, is putting Greece's financial lifeline at risk, the German Finance Ministry said. Greece's bailout terms mean his government needs to undertake further reforms by the end of February. Extending the deadline would only make sense if Tsipras showed willingness to implement agreed reforms, and "the announcements from Athens go in the opposite direction," ministry front man Martin Jaeger said Friday.