the german finance minister wolfgang schauble acknowledged that members did face a difficult decisioneforehand that rejecting this deal would do great harm and urged them to approve it, despite the skepticism within germany. >> translator: we're not talking about new changes to greece or any changes to this program. rather, it's granting or providing extra time to successfully end this program. >> that was wolfgang schauble. certainly, there are anxieties not just in germany, but in greece as well. in fact, we've seen the first signs of trouble there yesterday evening. these were the protests with police by a group of anti-government demonstrators. they are unhappy at the compromises so far made by the newly elected sirs ayriza government to achieve this deal. our athens correspondent mark lowen has been out and about in athens trying to get a flavor for what most people feel about the syriza government's moves. >> greece's new government is a month old and it's been a stoney start. gone are the talk of reversing austerity, tearing up the bailout, and defying berlin as a compromise wa

draghi and just before he was due to meet with german finance minister wolfgang schauble. it is very dangerous territory here politically, in terms of changing the rules of the game. let's face it, the greek finance minister has essentially said he wants to negotiate in good faith with eu leaders and its creditors. the rhetoric so far has been fairly -- been fairly calm and considered. this action by the ecb sort of shatters that consensus. it brings short-term borrowing up to levels near 20%. >> what sort of state are the greek banks in? are they just taking on the weak point of the economy with this action by the ecb? >> i think what mr. varoufakis said a couple days ago that greece is essentially insolvent is not far from the truth. greek banks are reliant on funding from the european central bank. i think the ecb is trying to focus minds. the problem is that is not the ecb's job. the ecb is there to keep the money flowing while politicians sort out the final the -- finer details of any renegotiation package. we have quite a few days left until this bailout package expi

next up for yanis varoufakis is a meeting in berlin with his german counterpart, wolfgang schÄuble. >greece has achieved more in the past years than the experts ever thought was possible three years ago. there is no denying that there is still a lot to do. but those who say that everything is on the wrong track haven't looked at the situation. >> despite these words, the german government's official staff remains tough. the german chancellor has ruled out the possibility of securing debt write-offs from creditor nations. >> the markets continue to keep a close eye on the efforts by greece to renegotiate the bailout deal and how investors view the latest on auction. our correspondent has more from frankfurt. >> for the first time since the new greek government came to power, the greek republic came to the money markets this wednesday. it auctioned off six months treasury bills. there was much less demand at this option that at previous auctions of that type. and the banks demanded much higher interest from greece than before. this shows how skeptical the financial markets are when it c

in fact the german finance minister wolfgang schauble has acknowledged that members of the german parliamentult decision but he warned them that not approving the deal would do great harm. i'm wondering, the germans have been quite skeptical up until this point. so what do they do now? >> the numbers in the german parliament were overwhelming but the enthusiasm certainly was not. there are more concerns. and mr. schauble himself, the finance minister has his own doubts about -- he's particularly concerned about whether greece is going to deliver on the economic policy premises that it is going to be negotiating over the course of the next few months. >> four months of negotiations and with a view to producing a new program with more financial support, or at least the dispersement of the financial support has already been agreed. but haven't been handed over to date, and economic policy commitments, which the germans certainly want to be pretty much in line with what the previous government agreed to do. >> just quickly, they could have a battle. the first anti-government protest. because peo

damien the hard line that's being taken by wolfgang schauble and the rest of the german government, doesthe german public in lockstep support behind it? >> well, what's interesting is that the vast majority of public opinion supports mr. schauble's tough line. according to a tv poll which has just been conducted on a german news channel here in berlin 94% of german voters want mr. schauble to stick to this tough line. and that's because the feeling here in german that there's no point throwing money at the problem. what you have to do is think about the long-term solution. in berlin's minds, the long-term solution is economic reform. that means austerity, how much austerity, how fast that's the big question. but for berlin there's no question of accepting this letter this deal that athens offered yesterday. because there's no commitment in berlin's eyes from athens to firm commitment to push through economic reform. you have to remember of course german voters and the german state have so far put forward 60 billion euros. there's very little appetite here in germany to put more money int

wolfgang schauble yesterday, in particular, very abrupt and disdainful about the greece proposal. and angela merkel by the end of the day, her office say, yea, had a good chat with the prime minister. is this about game playing? to what extent -- what is going on with the germans? >> it's certainly being seen that way, to an extent. but i think that also reflects a dichotomy in how this problem is being seen. if you look at it from a purely financial point of view, there are lots of people who say greece should not be made an exception that would have dire economic consequences to the image of the eurozone. if you look at it from a geopolitical point of view it can be quite different. the consequences of forcing greek out of the euro could be huge. that could also affect how the eurozone is seen and how it operates and its stability. so i think there is two very different perspectives that may be symbolized by those political leaders and those financial leaders. >> lucy thanks very much for that. obviously, we'll keep across this story as it develops out of brussels there. also wa

last night, greece officials said they had positive talks with angela merkel, just hours after wolfgang schaublessed their request. >> we must realize that, at this moment, it appears that there are powers that would like greece on its knees exactly so they can impose their will. i believe we can do what helps our country and what helps these powers. >> let's get the latest from brussels. hans nichols is there. are the germans prepared to negotiate or not? >> yes, they are clearly leaving the door open for these talks to start today. that is according to a government official. they are demanding of greece to submit a new proposal. the proposal they submitted yesterday can be a baseline. that is on the positive side. as well as the conversation between angela merkel and alexis tsipras. he seemed to say that they made some progress in those talks. after those talks, the government officials from greece clarified that they were not talking about the bailout program. they were talking about the six-month loan. the government official also went on to say that it demanded of greece that it completes t

finance minister yanis varoufakis has wrapped up a news conference with his german counterpart, wolfgang schÄublein berlin. it comes hours after the ecb says it will no longer accept junk rated collateral from greece. hospitals joins us on the phone from berlin with all the headlines after the meeting. hans, is it fair to say that both of them have agreed to disagree? hans: well, betty, that is what mr. schÄuble second at the top of's remarks she lapsed into english, saying "we agreed to disagree." betty: ok it sounds as if we have lost cause nichols. we will -- we have lost hans nichols. we will try to get him back at the moment. we will have much more and be back in two minutes. ♪ betty: it is 15 minutes past the hour. let's look at our world news headlines. positive economic news from europe. the eu is raising its growth forecast from 1.1% to 1.3%. low oil prices like sports boosting weaker euros -- and experts boosting weaker euros should help the eurozone. secretary of state john kerry is in ukraine as the conflict there is worsening. he is meeting with the president to discuss whether the u

brendan: what you see from wolfgang schÄuble is he is tried to turn this into a discussion of financekis it is a discussion of politics good we have to stop this 1930's-style depression in order to prevent, as olivia points out, the surface egg from hatching. torsten: the problem is that the economics is what it is. the politics here is, of course the big unknown, and the tail risk that the market is focusing on. this town is is developing -- this tail risk is developing. tom: how will this be played by the german press? how will they play this? torsten: so i am not going to speculate on that, but generally speaking, the germans have a quite different view on where things need to get. this is the tug-of-war going on. a game of chicken here, or is someone going to give you that or someone going to deviate --or is someone going to deviate? olivia: how do the germans intimate a headline like that -- we do cannot have a surface egg hatch? torsten: i think the greeks understand the germans in the germans understand the greeks. it is just humming together -- tom: brendan greeley, this is as