To the consternation of German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, Tsipras has often appealed to Merkel directly when talks on Greece's tough reforms stall. It's not personalBut Dimitris Papadimoulis, Greece's European Parliament vice-president, notes "it's not a question of (personal) chemistry". For informed observers in Athens, the makeup of the next German government is key to its future stance on Greece. Current FDP leader Christian Lindner maintains a tougher stance than Merkel on migration and has called for Greece to temporarily leave the euro. A shift in German policy towards Greece might not even be in the latter's favour, says 36-year-old software programmer Stamatis Rapanakis.

Source: The Local September 19, 2017 07:02 UTC