During the at EU summit in Riga European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker shared his tie with Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. The Guardian reported that the Greek PM will only wear one once Greece's debt problem is resolved.
The New York Times published an examination of the political implications of Tsipras’ tie-lessness. Tsipras knows what it says to the world when he appears - at every official function, including his own formal swearing-in - without the traditionally expected tie. He knows it sends a laid-back message, and he likes that message. “I think that if there is something that people appreciate in [the Syriza party] and me, it is that we haven’t assumed this mentality of establishment parties, with specific ways to dress, to act” he told The New York Times.
During a meeting in Rome on Fedruary 3, Prime Minister Tsipras met his Italian counterpart, and the two leaders exchanged gifts – Tsipras gave Matteo Renzi a CD with songs of Southern Italy's Greek dialects and Renzi presented Tsipras with a black tie, in hopes that the Greek PM will wear it once Greece a final accord is reached.
“We want to give a hand to Greece,” Renzi said. “But we also want the moment to come for Greece to be out of the crisis, and when that moment comes, Alexis will use an Italian tie,” the Business Insider reported.
In a recent statement Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel stressed that there's work to be done for an agreement to be made and that Greece should keep negotiating with her creditors.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will meet with Alexis Tsipras on Friday afternoon, after the EU summit.