Merkel to meet Greek PM in Athens Tuesday: spokesman

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will fly to Athens on Tuesday to meet Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, her spokesman said on Friday, her first trip to Greece since the euro zone debt crisis erupted there.

"It is a trip that of course happens to the backdrop of this very difficult situation that Greece is going through right now, the massive adjustment and reform measures that have shaped Greece for the past two years," Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said.

"We see that the reform efforts have increased under the Samaras government and we want to support that."

Samaras told German newspaper Handelsblatt in an interview that Merkel was a "reliable support" for him and that they had a "very positive relationship".

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt and Sarah Marsh)