Europe resists Greece’s charm offensive

This may not rank as one of the world’s most successful charm offensives.

Earlier this week Yannis Varoufakis, Greek’s finance minister, embarked on a tour of European capitals in an attempt to win support for his government’s anti-austerity policies. He also wants Greece to be allowed to renegotiate the terms of its multibillion-dollar bailout and cut its crippling debt.

The trip has not gone as smoothly as Varoufakis might have hoped. His meeting in Berlin with the German finance minister ended without agreement; they even disagreed over whether they had agreed to disagree. And after Varoufakis met the head of the European Central Bank, the bank announced that it was cutting off cheap funding to Greece’s commercial banks.