Authorities mount draconian security operation for visit of Schäuble, who is blamed for painful cutbacks inflicted on Greece
The German finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, flew into a storm of controversy as he arrived in Athens on Thursday with anti-austerity parties describing him as persona non grata.
Making his first visit to the country since the eruption of Europe's debt crisis in Athens almost four years ago, the politician was welcomed by around 4,000 riot police as Greek authorities mounted a draconian security operation.
With central boulevards cordoned off, protesters were prohibited from gathering outside the parliament building.
Attempting to quell any ill-feeling ahead of the one-day trip, Schäuble sought to soften his often acerbic image, saying he would be bearing gifts and a message of solidarity.
"I can well understand people in Greece, it's just that we have to help Greece get on a better path," he told Germany's ARD television late Wednesday. "The only thing that will really help people in Greece is achieving better economic development, they are on the right track … it will continue to pay off."
Schäuble will also sign off on loans worth €100m (£86m) for Greek firms badly hit by the crisis.
Berlin has been the main provider of the €240bn committed to Greece in EU-IMF bailout funds – the biggest rescue programme in global history – since May 2010.
Addressing a conference shortly after his arrival, Schäuble enthused that "Greece … is showing the first sign of success" in its bid to reform its moribund economy. "A decade ago [Germany] was the sick man of Europe," he said.
But the conciliatory moves will do little to assuage public sentiment for the man most identified with the painful cutbacks inflicted on the nation in exchange for aid.
In the hate stakes, Schäuble is even more loathed than the German chancellor, Angel Merkel, who made a similarly symbolic visit to Greece last October.
With Greece at boiling point following the adoption of yet more internationally mandated austerity measures in the wake of parliament's vote to slash 25,000 jobs in the public sector, opposition leaders said it was wrong for Schäuble to be visiting at all.
"For us he is persona non grata," railed Panos Kammenos, leader of the virulently anti-austerity Independent Greeks party as the 300-seat house debated the job losses. "Has anyone mentioned to him that Germany still owes Greece war reparations?"
Formally invited by his counterpart, Yannis Stournaras, officials in the governing coalition have hailed the German finance minister's trip as further proof that Greece is on the road to recovery.
In private, however, even officials find it hard to speak positively of the German. "This is a show-off visit that is all about the upcoming German elections," said one.
"Schäuble has been one of the rudest and most aggressive politicians we have had to face since the crisis began."
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