Samaras in Berlin with hat in hand

After meeting with French president François Hollande on Thursday evening, Angela Merkel meets today with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras in Berlin

Political supporters are saying that Chancellor Merkel needs to stay resolute, as it has been predicted that Samaras intends to ask for both more money and time to get his country back on track.

Despite the fact that Germany's Federal Statistical Office announced on Thursday that better than expected domestic tax revenues combined with excess social security funding have led to a surplus of 8.3 billion euros for the first six months of the year, pundits are predicting that Merkel will not increase the amount of the bailout.

There is also speculation that she will not stop the scheduled payments.  As a further compromise, she will most probably agree to an extension on the due date of the debt repayment.

Her initial answer is likely to be 'no' to Samaras' request for more time. Both here in Germany, as well as in the more conservative quarters of some other eurozone countries, patience is wearing thin when it comes to the Greek's  overhauling their financial system. Chancellor Merkel herself is facing increasing skepticism within her coalition government when it comes to continuing to bail out Greece.

However, it has been shown that since the beginning of the European financial crisis, Greece has carried out the most brutal austerity program in the union's history. Merkel must certainly be taking this into account during this morning's meeting with Samaras, who has made it clear to the German media that he wants to change his country's culture of cronyism. The overall goal of the meeting is to keep Greece securely in the EU. For information on the result of today's meeting, watch this space.