Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel put on a public display of mutual goodwill on Monday, appealing to Greeks and Germans to set aside recrimination and national stereotypes and work for a better European future.

An Airbus A320 airliner operated by Lufthansa budget airline subsidiary Germanwings crashed in southern France on Tuesday en route from Barcelona to Duesseldorf, police and aviation officials said.

Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias is more in favour of a political rather than a legal solution on the issue of German war reparations, which could be determined by a joint team of Greek and German experts, German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung reported in a story which will be published on Monday.