Dhe Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias has reiterated the demand for reparations for the destruction caused by the German occupiers in World War II. “I would like to underline that the issue of Germany’s reparations remains open for the Greek government, but mainly for Greek society,” Dendias said on Friday after talks with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in Athens. The issue must be resolved, it is a question of principle.
Baerbock had previously made it clear that the German rejection of Greek reparation claims had not changed. At the beginning of her visit to Greece, she recalled the atrocities committed by Germany during the country’s Nazi occupation. Not enough people in Germany knew about the extent of this guilt.
Baerbock also recognized Greece as “one of Germany’s closest partners” in Europe. That applies to support for Ukraine, for the fight against global warming, but also for securing the European external border in the Aegean. She wanted to hear “what we as the European Union have to do to ensure that our common external border is safe – also for the people who seek refuge with us at risk of life”. The task that Greece carries for the entire EU is “huge and deserves all our solidarity”.
Criticism of Frontex
Baerbock called for consistent clarification after new allegations against the EU border protection agency Frontex. The EU must “be able to ensure even better that human rights are of course also observed around the clock at the European external border,” said Baerbock on Thursday after a visit to the Frontex liaison office in the Greek capital Athens. Pushing refugees back across the EU’s external borders is “incompatible with European law,” she clarified. According to media reports, an EU report that has been kept secret for months accuses Frontex of deliberately turning a blind eye when the Greek coast guard pushes refugees back at sea.
After the talks with the Greek government, Baerbock will travel to Ankara, where she will meet Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu this Friday. One topic in both countries will be the Greek-Turkish conflicts over raw materials in the Aegean. Baerbock announced that in Turkey she also wanted to “address the issues on which we have some fundamental differences: the military interventions in northern Syria, human rights, the implementation of obligations as a member of the Council of Europe”.
