The European Union said yesterday it is trying to mediate a simmering row between Greece and its eurozone partners Spain and Portugal after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras accused them of undermining debt talks with Brussels. Madrid and Lisbon lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission (EU) over the comments by Tsipras, who likened pressure from Spain and Portugal during negotiations over a four-month bailout extension to blackmail.

Germany has also denounced the comments by Tsipras, whose hard-left, anti-austerity Syriza party stormed to victory in elections in January on the back of promises to end austerity and renegotiate its bailout. "We are speaking to all actors involved in order to ensure there is unity among all EU states and especially all EU states of the eurozone," EU spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said during a daily briefing. "We have received the complaints including a request to comment from the Spanish and Portuguese authorities that was communicated to the Commission over the weekend regarding the statements of Prime Minister Tsipras. We are stressing very much the role of the Commission as a mediator in this process, which means we're building bridges and bringing parties together," she added.

The row between the so-called Club Med countries that border the Mediterranean Sea comes as governments in Spain and Portugal face the rise of anti-austerity parties buoyed by the rise of Syriza. Portugal has just completed a painful international bailout, sticking to the harsh austerity terms rejected by Syriza while Spain had to ask Brussels for special help with its banks.

According to Tsipras in a speech to the central committee of Syriza on Saturday, Greece came up against "an axis of powers led by Spain and Portugal" who tried to scupper the negotiations to "avoid internal political risks." "Conservative forces [in Europe] tried to set a trap for us, to drive us into financial asphyxia," the 40-year-old prime minister said. Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hit back on Sunday, telling Tsipras to "get serious" about Greece's debt problems. Yesterday, Germany said the comments were, in football terminology, a "foul." "I can only say that according to European standards that was a very unusual foul," Martin Jaeger, the spokesman for German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, told reporters. "We don't do that in the Eurogroup [of eurozone finance ministers]. It is not the [way things are done]."