Main opposition New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras on Monday stressed the need for Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to handle the meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel “in a practical and realistic way having the needs of the country and the economy as criterion,” adding that “there should not be any words for domestic consumption.” Referring to Tsipras’ letter to Merkel, Samaras said that informing foreign leaders that the country’s situation is desperate is a “theater” of the proud negotiation as at the same time he was assuring the Greek people that there is no problem with liquidity, loans and pensions. “Being proud is to take the country out of the crisis, having no need for further loans and not whining to the foreign leaders. I hope and I urge Mr. Tsipras to deal practically and realistically with today’s meeting with the Chancellor and have the needs of the country and the economy as a criterion instead of the known words for domestic consumption,” Samaras noted. (source: ana-mpa)