5 February 2015 Last updated at 06:49 ET
Yanis Varoufakis is in Berlin attempting to renegotiate Greece's debt
Don't humiliate us, Greek finance minister tells Germany
Yanis Varoufakis is in Berlin attempting to renegotiate Greece's debt
Greece's new finance minister Yanis Varoufakis has urged Germany not to humiliate the country over its debts.
Mr Varoufakis compared Greece's plight with that of inter-war Germany, speaking ahead of a meeting with his German counterpart.
Germany was burdened with massive debts after World War One and threatened by hyper-inflation, crippling its economy.
Mr Varoufakis has been touring European capitals this week to win support for Greece's plan to restructure its debt.
'Come to the boil'
In an interview with German ARD television, Mr Varoufakis said: "I think of the countries in Europe, the Germans understand best this simple message.
"If you humiliate a proud nation for too long and subject it to the worry of a debt deflation crisis, without light at the end of a tunnel then things come to the boil."
The comparison is likely to send a clear message to German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble ahead of his meeting with Mr Varoufakis on Thursday.
Germany is seen as the strongest opponent among eurozone countries to any reduction of Greece's 323bn euro (£242bn/$369bn) debt.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has ruled out any cancellation of the debt, which is about 175% of Greece's GDP, saying lenders had already made concessions.
The Greek stock market fell sharply on Thursday after the European Central Bank (ECB) said it would refuse to accept Greek bonds in return for lending.
The ECB's move, a response to Greece's efforts to rewrite the aid-for-reform terms of its 240bn euro bailout, will force the Greek central bank to provide tens of billions of euros more emergency liquidity to the country's banks.
But Greece's finance ministry has played down the move, saying the country's banking system remained fully protected by alternative sources of funding.
French President Francois Hollande said the ECB's decision was "legitimate".
Take a look at the background of Greece's charismatic new leader
Mr Varoufakis and his party leader, Greece's newly-elected Prime Minister Alex Tsipras, have been touring European capitals including Berlin after winning January's election with a pledge to have half of Greece's debt written off.
Mr Tsipras's left-wing Syriza fell two seats short of a majority in the election and formed a coalition with the right-wing Independent Greeks party.
As Mr Varoufakis prepared to meet Mr Schauble, the new Greek parliament was sworn in in Athens.
Among those taking the oath were 17 members of the far-right party Golden Dawn, including a number who were released from custody for the parliamentary session.
Greek judges indicted 72 people with links to Golden Dawn on Wednesday, including its leader Nikos Michaloliakos, on charges including murder.bbc
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