President of Germany

"Europe starts in Berlin and reaches Athens and goes through all the Balkans. Without the Balkans, without Greece, there can be no European Union," says the former president of Germany, Christian Wulff (2010-2012), in an interview with Kathimerini looking back on the difficult relationship between Greece and Germany during the years of the economic crisis.

Prime Minister Denys Shmygal will be the first high-level Ukrainian official to visit Germany in months on Sunday, in a sign of eased tensions after a rocky patch between Kiev and Berlin.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly vowed Germany's strong support for Ukraine in its battle against Russia's invasion.

German Ambassador to Greece Jens Ploetner is expected to take up duties as political director of Germany's Federal Foreign Office, Kathimerini understands.

A career diplomat, Ploetner took up his current post in July 2017 and is expected to leave Athens in April of this year.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Dec. 4 awarded two Turkish immigrants with the German Order of Merit for their voluntary work and their services to the culture of remembrance.

The German president signed a law to legalize gay marriages which will be active from this autumn, reports Associated Press.

The parliament accepted the law during the last meeting on the 30th June, before the parliamentary elections in September. This happened after the counselor Angela Merkel said the representatives of the party should vote according to their conscience.

The European Union must remain united in the face of challenges to the European idea and Brexit. This is the message of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who arrives in Athens on Friday. In an interview with Kathimerini, the 61-year-old Social Democrat stresses the need to advance European integration, calling on the nations of the bloc to assume their responsibilities.