Varoufakis says meeting with Schaeuble 'very helpful'

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis described as ?productive? and ?extremely friendly? his discussion with his German counterpart Wolfgang Schaeuble in Berlin on Monday.

?Dr Schaeuble and I had a long productive conversation,? said Varoufakis after their meeting. ?We were not negotiating, we were establishing common ground.?

?These are difficult moments for the European Union and the euro zone in particular and it is the duty of elected politicians to take their responsibility to a higher level in order to try to achieve an agreement that is absolutely essential for the integrity of the euro zone, absolutely essential for the European Union and it is a historic duty which we cannot abrogate.?

Varoufakis did not share details of what was discussed but appeared pleased by the content of the talks, which took place as State Minister Nikos Pappas and negotiations coordinator Euclid Tsakalotos headed to Brussels to continue deliberations between the government and lenders.

?The conversation took place in an extremely friendly manner,? he said. ?We have a common understanding of the problem and the whole purpose was to try to achieve a commonly designed and agreed solution to the impasse in which we have unfortunately found ourselves, over the last few years actually, with this ongoing big crisis.

?I believe that today?s conversation is going to be very helpful in solidifying the process of the last few days or weeks before we have a final solution to the ongoing conversations,? added the Greek finance minister, who was also due to meet MPs from German coalition partner SPD and opposition parties Die Linke and the Greens.