Roundup: Greek gov't officials continue tug of war with Eurogroup

Greek government officials continued on Tuesday the tug of war with the Eurogroup President Jeroen Dijsselbloem and the German administration in public statements to local media, as U.S. government suggested calm to Athens, according to government sources.

"It would be useful to all sides that Mr. Dijsselbloem would respect his role in the euro zone ... We do not need to remind to him that the Hellenic Republic cannot be blackmailed," Greek government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis said commenting on a remark the Eurogroup chief made.

Greece could face a Cyprus plan if it fails to meet its commitments to lenders, Dijsselbloem told a Dutch radio station, noting that two years ago banks closed for a brief time in Cyprus to avert run on deposits.

As Greece was under mounting pressure since February with no more international funds while the new Left-led government negotiates the conditions of post bailout cooperation with creditors, scenarios of an imminent cash crunch flourished.

In parallel several Greek officials were involved in an exchange of hard talk with some European officials, including the Eurogroup chief and German ministers.

"Greece is not a subordinate country," Panos Kammenos, Defense Minister and leader of the right wing Independent Greeks (ANEL) party, the junior partner in the government, said during an interview with a Greek television channel.

He stressed that the government would insist on the revived campaign that Greece receives war reparations from Berlin for WWII Nazi crimes and an occupation loan.

He also accused German officials of making personal attacks against him because they supported German companies who were involved in bribery cases of Greek officials which were under judicial investigation.

European Parliament President Martin Schulz said during a recent interview that "a bull in a china shop was a better diplomat than Kammenos" commenting on the Greek minister's remarks last week that German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has been involved in bribery scandals.

Kammenos has held a leading role in the verbal war which has started with Berlin after the January national polls on the resolution of the five-year debt crisis.

Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis on Tuesday tried to put an end to another chapter of this confrontation with Germany by insisting that a gesture he made during a speech in 2010 which was caught on video has been misinterpreted.

During a German TV show in the weekend in an old footage Varoufakis was seen raising his middle finger while criticizing Germany's economic policy.

Against this backdrop Caroline Atkinson, U.S. President Barack Obama's advisor on international economics, during a telephone conversation with Greek Deputy Prime Minister Yannis Dragassakis in the weekend, expressed Washington's concern over the tensions in Greece's relations with its European partners and suggested calm, Greek government sources said. Endit