Merkel to visit Greece next week

BERLIN: German Chancellor Angela Merkel will visit Greece next week for the first time in five years to hold talks with Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, her office said Friday.

Merkel, who faced angry anti-austerity protests during a 2014 visit, and far-left leader Tsipras will discuss "European and international" issues, said her spokeswoman Martina Fietz.

During the January 10-11 trip, Merkel will also hold meet President Prokopis Pavlopoulos and Greek representatives from business, culture, science and publishing.

Tensions were high between Berlin and Athens during the eurozone sovereign debt crisis when Merkel's government insisted on tough austerity measures for Greece in return for international bailouts.

More recently, since a mass migrant influx to Europe that peaked in 2015, Merkel has sought to support frontline countries such as Greece and called for EU quotas to relocate asylum seekers.

Tensions linger over the issue of wartime reparations for the Nazis' World War II occupation of Greece.

Berlin argues that the issue of reparations to Greece was settled in 1960 as part of an agreement with several European governments.

Merkel is also set to meet opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis, lay a wreath at the tomb of the unknown soldier at central Syntagma Square, and discuss the future of Europe with students at the German school in Athens.