TENSION between Greece’s Syriza government and the eurozone’s leading powers rose at an EU summit yesterday, with European Council president Donald Tusk arranging a side meeting with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to avoid “heated” exchanges around the main table.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that no solution to Greece’s financial problems should be expected either at the summit or during Mr Tsipras’s planned trip to Berlin next week.

Greece would need to stick to a crippling programme of spending cuts imposed by the EU, IMF and European Central Bank if it expected to continue receiving funds to pay off its creditors, she said.