Soltz’s visit to Athens: Equipment, energy, Turkey, in focus at the meeting with Mitsotakis

Today’s (Thursday) meeting of the prime minister is of great importance, at a critical geopolitical moment with European states facing common challenges Kyriakou Mitsotakis with Chancellor Olaf Soltz in Athens.

This trip is long-awaited from the Greek side, but it has also been high on the German agenda for a long time. The years of the Greek financial crisis and imposed austerity may be a thing of the past, but 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) becoming a daily occurrence. on behalf of the Turkish leadership, make it necessary to confirm the dear Greek-German relations, away from the shadows of the past. The prime minister will raise the issue of Turkish challenges with the chancellor. Besides, as pointed out by the German network RND, the Turkish threats of war against Greece should be ended immediately surrender of German submarines in Turkey, since these would shift the balance of power in the eastern Mediterranean in favor of Ankara”.

Equipment, energy, eastern Mediterranean

According to DW, it is no secret that for the German government the importance of the idiosyncratic tank exchange (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 mobility has been recorded in recent weeks, the announcements from the German and Greek sides follow one another, while according to a recent publication by Welt, the German equipment giant KMW plans additional cooperation on Greek soil with the “Mytileneos” group 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.

The scheduled press conference of Olaf Solz with Kyriakos Mitsotakis is expected at 12 noon, 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.

It is noted that the meeting of the two leaders comes the day after the Council of European Energy Ministers, who discussed how to implement the political agreement of the Prague Summit to deal with the energy crisis. However, there was no agreement regarding the mechanism for controlling the price of natural gas on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. The German Minister of Economy Robert Hambeck made sure to temper expectations. Mr. Mitsotakis is expected to raise the issue again with Mr. Soltz. The adoption of specific measures is referred to a new extraordinary council of energy ministers on November 24. The joint press conference will be followed by a working lunch. 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.

Greece is also an energy pillar for Germany

However, at a time when Germany is urgently looking for new and ideally “green” energy resources in order to accelerate its – almost exclusive for years – dependence on Russian natural gas, Greece came on October 24 with a very tangible proposal. A preliminary sailing plan has even already been presented to the Green Finance Minister Robert Hambeck.

“Our proposal is to build a direct electrical interconnection between Greece, Austria, Germany which will pass through intermediate countries in the Western Balkans or through the Adriatic. In this way, our goal is to transfer ‘green’ energy at very competitive prices to Austria and especially to southern Germany, where there is a great need for electricity from renewable sources,” Environment and Energy Minister Kostas Skrekas explained to DW.

In fact, it is interesting that this proposal essentially utilizes three alternative land routes through the Western Balkans and also an undersea route through the Adriatic. However, Germany, like Austria, seems to be already considering all aspects of this proposal. Especially at a time when older energy projects, such as EastMed, “are no longer heard in Europe, except perhaps in Italy,” says Kostas Skrekas.

The fact is finally – and this is recorded not only from the Greek side but also from the German side – that the negative image of Greece has begun has been changing for some time now. The “externally good testimony” of prospective, private investors from Germany and Europe shows that Greece can relatively immediately play the role of a reliable trading partner for Europe’s stable and long-term energy supply (e.g. Port of Alexandroupoli, Revythoussa, LNG infrastructure , expansion of wind and photovoltaic parks, investments in energy storage systems) in the future. Awaiting projects.

Deutsche Welle –

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.