Tsipras-Schulz; focus on growth to address youth unemployment and humanitarian crisis

"We discussed the agenda on growth so as to examine the unacceptable situation of high youth unemployment and take initiatives to address the humanitarian crisis," Tsipras said adding that they had productive discussions.

"I spend 90 percent of my time trying to find immediate solutions, but it's high time we spoke of the future, but a future with 60 percent of youth unemployment is not future," Tsipras underlined.

Moreover, Tsipras stressed that Greece has already started implementing its obligations under the Eurogroup agreement of February 20 adding "we expect our partners to do the same."

I am optimistic that we will find solutions in our common interest, the Prime Minister noted adding that "there is no Greek problem but a European problem" and at the end of day "all misunderstandings will be cleared out and we will proceed to the implementation of the agreement of February 20."

"We had intensive discussions and we experience difficult times," the President of the European Parliament said. "We discussed what we can achieve through our cooperation in order to resolve medium and long-term problems with a growth strategy," he added.

Solutions to address Greece's difficult situation will need to be found through the exploitation of the Youth Guarantee funds, Schulz stated, who pointed out that there are resources to use so as to address the social situation in Greece.

He also referred to the need for an integrated Greek investment and development plan for the next four months.

He also referred to the different interpretations of decisions lately which have led to tensions. "Misunderstandings should be resolved so as to focus on growth and jobs," the president of the European Parliament said.

He acknowledged that the greatest tension is with Germany and underlined that he met "a prime minister who realized he is a prime minister and not only a leader of his party" and added that the aim is to find a solution for the recovery of the economy with realistic goals but first of all a solution must be found for the direct funding of the country where the situation is serious.

Besides, he noted, there should be a distinction between the request for the German reparations and the discussion to cover financing needs. The link between the two issues is counterproductive and inappropriate, he argued.

"I met a Prime Minister who is aware of the risks for his country and who has pledged to agree with the partners," Schulz said.