Enrique Viguera

Greece on Friday raised the Spanish flag on top of Parliament in central Athens in a sign of solidarity with its European partner, where the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 15,000 lives.

The first collateral damage or, more precisely, the first serious casualty - from the Catalonia independence row in terms of how this is being felt in Greece was the affair involving Madrid's ambassador in Athens, Enrique Viguera, who is said to have criticized the stance of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras's leftist-led government on the issue (the envoy has denied the allegation).

The request on Monday by Spanish EU Affairs Minister Jorge Toledo Albinana for a meeting with Greece's ambassador in Madrid Christodoulos Lazaris was, according to diplomatic sources, an expression of Spain's desire to end a diplomatic spat with Athens over the Catalan independence drive.  

Greece has called on Spain's ambassador to Athens to rescind statements to a Greek newspaper suggesting that Athens was not supportive of Spanish unity, revealing strains between the European Union partners over a Catalan independence drive.