Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are urging an end to the vicious "stereotypes" and name-calling that have threatened to rip the eurozone apart.
After weeks of bitter acrimony between the new radical-left government in debt-mired Greece and the eurozone's effective paymaster, both leaders were at pains to stress their common ground on the debt crisis.
Tspiras, making his first visit to the German capital since taking office in January, told reporters "neither are the Greeks lazy louts nor are the Germans to blame for Greece's ills - we have to work hard to overcome these stereotypes."
Merkel said she agreed that Europe must "surmount these types of stereotypes" about good and bad eurozone members to ensure the future of the currency.
"We both have a vested interest in building co-operation based on trust," Merkel said.
Tspiras praised the German leader, who has been caricatured as a bloodthirsty Nazi in Greece for her insistence on swingeing reforms, as a straight shooter.
"Ms Merkel listens and wants to make progress in discussions," he said.
But entrenched differences surfaced during the 35-minute press conference between an initial round of talks and a working dinner at Merkel's chancellery.
Tsipras said the budget cuts and structural reforms demanded over the last five years in exchange for two bailout programmes had not been a "success story" but rather brought his country to its knees.
The austerity path Merkel has championed has had "horrible effects" including mass unemployment, widespread poverty and social unrest in Greece.
"A new political mix must be found," he insisted while pledging more decisive action than his predecessors on fighting corruption and tax evasion.
Merkel repeated her frequent refrain that the only sustainable solution to the debt crisis is fiscal discipline.
"What is crucial is that the economic fundamentals are there. What types of reforms are implemented can be discussed with the institutions," she said, referring to what was formerly called the "troika" of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
She dismissed the frequent portrayal of the Greek debt crisis as a zero-sum game between Berlin and Athens.
"Germany is not the institution that decides whether the reform programme is correct or sufficient," she said.
But she added: "We want a Greece that is economically strong, we want growth in Greece and - this is key - we want to reduce the very high unemployment among the young."
As tensions have flared, painful historical memories have resurfaced, with Tsipras's government reviving reparation claims for the Nazi occupation of Greece in World War II.
In his opening statement, Tsipras stressed that Greece did not see the case as closed, insisting that it was a "moral issue" that must still be resolved.
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