Angela Merkel

"I tried to provide solutions in the way I could," said Panagiotis Pikrammenos, reflecting on his time as caretaker prime minister during the Greek debt crisis.

Pikrammenos made the comment during a conversation with Tom Ellis, editor in chief at Kathimerini English Edition, at the "50 Years of the Metapolitefsi" conference in Athens on Thursday.

Before the tumultuous year of 2015, Greece actually came close to leaving the eurozone in 2012, following the election of Antonis Samaras as prime minister. Chancellor Angela Merkel was notably apprehensive about the New Democracy leader's pre-election campaign. 

Wolfgang Schaeuble, who helped negotiate German reunification in 1990 and as finance minister was a central figure in the austerity-heavy effort to drag Europe out of its debt crisis more than two decades later, has died. He was 81.

Schaeuble died at home on Tuesday evening, his family told German news agency dpa on Wednesday.

The legend of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) passed away in his sleep.
Schuble, who was part of the Bundestag for more than 50 years, is survived by his wife, four children and four grandchildren.
He was born in Freiburg in 1942, where he studied, and then he studied at the University of Hamburg.

Public opinion plays a role in democracies. The extent to which polls influence the political decision-making process is a matter of dispute among experts. This applies to domestic politics, and also to foreign policy making. A majority of Greeks have a negative opinion of Germany. This is confirmed by several recent polls.

The long-awaited visit of Foreign Minister Analena Berbock (of the Greens) may have been canceled due to covid, but the line-up of top German politicians in Greece is no way over. On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's visited Thessaloniki for a "Balkan dinner".

Angela Merkel said that while she was Chancellor of Germany she made serious efforts to prevent the situation in Ukraine from developing to its current state and said that she does not blame herself of not trying decisively enough to thwart what was happening, Reuters reported.

Angela Merkel defended her approach to Ukraine and Russia during her 16 years as Germany's leader, saying Tuesday that a much criticized 2015 peace deal for eastern Ukraine bought Kiev precious time and she won't apologize for her diplomatic efforts.

In her first public speech in about half a year, former German Chancellor Angela Merkel described Russia's attack on Ukraine as a "deep turning point".

She said she did not want to make assessments as a former chancellor, but Russia's invasion of its neighboring country was a gross violation of international law in European history since the end of World War II.

Billionaire George Soros (91) says Russia's invasion of Ukraine has "rattled Europe to its core" and could lead to the next world war.