A chancellor on the Acropolis – The Soltz – Mitsotakis meeting on Thursday

Angela Merkel traveled to Athens five times during her 16 years as chancellor, she met different prime ministers (Kostas Karamanlis, Antonis Samaras, Alexis Tsipras, Kyriakos Mitsotakis) in different political and economic situations, culminating in the years of the euro crisis. It is now the turn of a male chancellor, the first since Gerhard Schroeder in 2004, the also Social Democrat Olaf Solz.

This trip is long-awaited from the Greek side, but it has also been high on the German agenda for a long time. Now the years of the Greek financial crisis and imposed austerity belong to history, however the war in Ukraine and the geopolitical upheavals in the eastern Mediterranean, with “threats” and “unfriendly” statements (according to the phraseology of German government briefings) are now daily. on behalf of the Turkish leadership, make it necessary to confirm the dear Greek-German relations, away from the shadows of the past.

The scheduled press conference of Olaf Soltz with Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected at 12:00 noon on Thursday, October 27. One day after Olaf Solz’s crucial visit to Paris. But also one day before October 28, the national anniversary, with the German Marder armored vehicles from the Berlin-Athens circular exchange of weapon systems agreement in support of Kiev, expected at the Thessaloniki military parade. However, the presence of the German chancellor in Athens will be short, with no other meetings. Only with a visit to the Acropolis, the eternal symbol of the Republic, which is so tormented to this day. But the Acropolis was also where the Nazis raised the swastika during World War II.

Equipment, energy, eastern Mediterranean

But back to the agenda. It is no secret that for the German government the importance of the idiosyncratic exchange of tanks (40 German Marder for Greece and 40 Greek, Soviet-style old BMP-1 for Ukraine) is great. With the “Ringtausch” agreements that the German government has been launching for months with Greece and Eastern European countries, such as the Czech Republic or Poland, it is trying to implement its promise of military support for Ukraine on the field with tanks. Except that it does not want to send them directly to Ukraine itself in order not to become a “belligerent party”, but through third countries, which in turn benefit from the upgrade – of course, there is also the opposite opinion – of their armament capabilities.

However, in the case of the exchange with Greece, intense movement has been recorded in recent weeks, the announcements from the German and Greek sides succeed one another, while according to a recent publication of Welt, the German armaments giant KMW plans additional cooperation on Greek soil with the group ” Mytileneos” in the context of the production of state-of-the-art Leopard 2 armored vehicles. Official announcements are expected for all of this in the coming days.

From then on, the German interest in the energy prospects that Greece now dynamically offers in the field of the production of renewable energy sources, but also in the field of storage and transport of other energy sources, such as liquefied natural gas LNG, is strong. The image of Greece as an “energy exporter” to Europe through new, safe energy routes was also emphasized on Monday from Berlin by the Minister of Energy Kostas Skrekas.

As for the Greek-Turkish issues, although the German government still remains sparing in its statements and perhaps not as outgoing as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Green Foreign Minister Analena Burbock, nevertheless the messages that have been sent for a long time from Berlin are in favor of Greece and of its territorial integrity in the Aegean, but definitely carefully. After all, Greece’s border with Turkey is also a European external border.

Is it time to touch on refugee, submarine and reparations?

In such a complex context and with a great need for positive messages of cooperation, will the big “thorn” of refugee management be discussed in the shadow of the now daily reports in the German media about shadowy practices of violence and illegal pushbacks on the Greek-Turkish border? Will the other side also be asked for “explanations” on the issue of the sale of German submarines to Turkey? Or does the German answer “pacta sunt servanda” still apply to previously concluded agreements?

And finally, will the issue of Greek claims for war reparations and the occupying loan from the period of the Second World War and the disastrous invasion of the Wehrmacht be raised again, as in the summer in Athens by Nikos Dendias to Analena Burbok? Or is the occasion not right? However, German sources estimate that, even if the current Polish government of the ultra-conservative PiS may seek an alliance with Greece in the field of legal claims for war reparations, Greece for the time being seems to have other, more urgent priorities to claim such a thing. and indeed together with Poland: the management of the consequences of the great war raging in Ukraine, the economic and political stability and the avoidance of a dangerous ignition off the Aegean Sea.

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