Athens demands reparations payments from Germany – and that emphatically. A report passed this week in Parliament puts the damage at € 300 billion.
For a long time, there has been a dispute over reparations payments between Germany and Greece. It’s about the time of the occupation during World War II. 300,000 Greeks were killed at that time. In addition, the central bank had to grant compulsory loans amounting to half a billion Reichsmarks.
A Greek commission has listed and quantified the war damage – to more than 300 billion euros. The sum is not out of thin air: There are many different – even international – calculations, they are between 250 billion and even 400 billion euros.
On Wednesday, the report of the Greek committee was passed in parliament. Now the government wants to put pressure to effect a payment. Alexis Tsipras assured the MP that he would exhaust all possibilities. First, he wants to enter into negotiations with the Minister of Justice Heiko Maas (SPD). However, it all looks like the German government sees no need. Only recently, she stated that she considered the issue to be “legally and politically settled”.
According to “Spiegel” information, Athens is therefore taking several more steps against Berlin, which could take the country to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the International Court of Arbitration in London, where the chances of success are likely to be low This is not the first time that Greece is threatening this radical move, but it has never been put into action – it would severely damage relations with Germany.
The sounds towards Berlin are currently just friendly. Aristomenis Syngelakis of the Greek Reparations Claims Association, for example, told the Spiegel newspaper that the Germans were taking an “unacceptable and arrogant” position.
By the way, Tsipras had postponed the passing of the report in Parliament in the past with reference to the debt crisis. But now Greece is no longer dependent on the financial aid programs. But critics accuse Tsipras of having chosen the date for other reasons, because: In May there are EU elections.
