Die Welt

European Parliament President Martin Schulz has said he is to block access of Russia's envoy to the EU Vladimir Chizhov to his institution.

The heads of the IMF and European Central Bank unexpectedly joined talks on Greece's debt crisis June 1 as the cash-strapped country battles with its creditors to unlock desperately-needed bailout funds.

The German press has been abuzz with its own interpretations of the meeting between German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, ECB Chief Mario Draghi, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and IMF Chief Christine Lagarde.  Most of the titles interpreted the meeting as a “last offer to Greece”.

Germany’s EU Commissioner Guenter Oettinger said on Sunday morning that a deal with Greece could be achieved this week. “We will need progress at the working group level, in order that we can agree on a reform agenda, perhaps even by the end of the week which would trigger the payment of the last tranche of aid from the current aid program,” he said, speaking with German newspaper Die Welt.

Germany's EU Commissioner Guenter Oettinger said on Monday it might still be possible for Greece and its creditors to reach a deal this week.

German newspaper Die Welt reports that Greece will need a third bailout backage this summer. The newspaper reports that even if Greece manages to receive the 7.2 billion euros benchmarked for the country but being withheld since the summer of 2014, the money will quickly run out causing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to seek new funds.

Even as the ECB’s governing council continued its “drip-feed” method of incrementally raising a ceiling for Emergency Liquidity Assistance towards Greece – by 1.1 billion euros on Tuesday for a total of 80 billion euros – media assessments remained negative in the absence of a bailout deal extension.

Albanian prime minister cancels visit to Macedonia

TIRANA, BERLIN -- Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has canceled his official visit to Macedonia, planned for May 14, Albanian language media in Pristina are reporting.

Rama was to visit Skopje and Tetovo, the website Albeu said on Tuesday, quoting sources from the Albanian Foreign Ministry.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier dismissed on April 12 calls from the radical Left party to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to this year's summit of the Group of Seven industrial powers.
   

European Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker called on the European Union to recognize the gravity of the situation in Greece -- both for the country's impoverished citizens and for the wider risks to the eurozone.