The new Ambassador of Greece to Berlin Alexander Papaioannou gave an interview to DW. It talks about the new international environment in the weather of Donald Trump, Europe and NATO in the shadow of the war in Ukraine but also in Greek -German relations today.

“We live in interesting times unfortunately” in the “most important capital of Europe”. So somehow describes the surrounding atmosphere in Berlin Greece’s new ambassador to Berlin Alexander Papaioannou.

We met a few days ago in his office at the Greek Embassy in the German capital. In a transitional German state, without a coherent government, with a new parliament where the opposition is the strong far -right alternative to Germany and with international developments now being rumored and unpredictable.

“The world has changed after January 20,” Alexander Papaioannou observes, but the omen for this crisis in Euro -Atlantic relations have been pre -existing for decades. Like the multiple bells to Brussels for a change of cruise and initiatives that were not done in time.

And it may not be Greece of the crisis at the heart of the Greek -German fermentation, but international developments with the backdrop of Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East, all related to the new data in the White House, create a complex framework that concerns Greece directly and the course of Greece, as it turns out.

Speaking to DW, Alexander Papaioannou also quotes the goals he has set for the following years of his term in Berlin: on the one hand is the deepening of bilateral relations with the younger generation and on the other the closer cooperation within the EU.

NATO, UN, EU, Berlin

Alexander Papaioannou has been the ambassador of the Hellenic Republic to the Federal Republic of Germany since January 31, 2025 when he handed his credentials to German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

He has served as Director of the Diplomatic Office of the Foreign Minister, a permanent representative of Greece at the UN and other international organizations in Geneva, NATO-EU relations officer at the NATO International Secretariat and adviser to the NATO Secretary General Secretary in Brussels.

In the past it has also served in the permanent delegation of Greece in the EU and previously in numerous diplomatic posts, including in Russia and Tunisia.

He was born in Athens, grew up in Brussels, studied international relations in LSE, London and European Politics and Administration at Collège D ‘Europe in Bruges.

Dimitra Kyranoudi

SOURCE: Deutsche Welle