It is positive that the teacherly tone from the German side, adopted from time to time in the last decade, is now a thing of the past, emphasizes Alexandros Kritikos, principal researcher at the German Institute for Economic Research.
The visits of German politicians to Greece highlight the country’s new strategic importance for the EU, comments Mr Alexander the Cretanprincipal investigator at German Institute for Economic Researchin an opinion piece on her website Welt.
As he notes from the beginning “Greece is becoming an increasingly important outpost in the protection of the EU’s external borders”.
According to the economist, the reason lies in the aggressive tone of Turkey and the provocations of the Turkish president: “Erdogan is constantly threatening the EU’s external borders: with his belligerent rhetoric, which has already led several times to military operations, such as in Iraq or Syria, with the messages he sends, for example, with the maritime delimitation agreement zones with Libya, ignoring the Greek islands, such as Rhodes or Crete. Or with his demand for the demilitarization of Greek islands, which at the same time he openly threatens”.
And under the current circumstances “a large part of Greek citizens perceive Erdogan as the regional equivalent of Putin”observes Kritikos – and despite the de-escalation efforts on the Greek side, he adds that “with the Russian attack on Ukraine, inhibitions about starting a war in Europe may have subsided and EU member states must reposition themselves vis-à -vis their neighbours. In this venture, Germany and Greece have key roles to play in different ways. (…) There is much to be discussed between the German and Greek governments. And it is positive that the teacherly tone from the German side, adopted at times in the last decade, is now a thing of the past – another important condition for a good cooperation.”
DW / Chrysa Vakhcevanou
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