BERLIN — Leader of the European People's Party in the European Parliament Manfred Weber on Friday told Der Spiegel news magazine that it has to be clarified that Europe and Germany stand by Greece, and aired criticism against German Foreign Affairs Minister Heiko Maas.

"The fact that Foreign Minister Heiko Maas is traveling to Athens as a mediator is unacceptable to me. Here we are dealing with a dispute between a member state of the European Union and a third country which also acts as an aggressor. It must be made clear that Europe and Germany are on the side of Greece. The Foreign Minister (Maas) must be careful not to be blackmailed for fear of a new migration crisis. Instead of all this, we need to talk about economic sanctions, the suspension of the customs agreement with Ankara and much more in order to react to Erdogan's attacks," Weber told Spiegel.