War reparations

Greece's newly elected prime minister has said during a visit in Berlin that he hopes Germany will agree to start negotiations on war reparations.
After a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told reporters "we hope there will be a positive response."

Greece send a so-called note verbale to Germany, repeating a long-held demand for war reparations for the crimes committed by Nazi Germany in World War II, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release on Tuesday.

Greece will soon send a so-called note verbale to Germany, repeating a long-held demand for war reparations for the crimes committed by Nazi Germany in World War II, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras told parliament on Wednesday, during a debate on a relevant report presented by a House committee.

Conservative opposition leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Wednesday the occupation loan Greece was forced to pay out to Nazi Germany during World War Two is "legally open and politically feasible," and its repayment should be made a priority.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert reiterated on Wednesday Germany's position that the issue of war reparations to Greece has been settled "legally and politically."

"The reparations issue was legally and politically settled," he said at a news conference in Berlin, adding that "nothing has changed" in that position.

Berlin has dismissed Warsaw's demands for paying massive World War II reparations, saying the bitter historical issue was fully resolved sixty years ago and that there are no grounds to revive it.

"Poland made a binding decision in August 1953… to relinquish demands for further war reparations," said German government spokesman Steffen Seibert as quoted by AFP.

Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos has renewed a demand for war reparations from Germany due to the Nazi occupation during World War II.

Greece is continuing to demand around €270 billion from Germany in reparation payments for war crimes committed by Third Reich in the Second World War. Athens is considering legal action to force Germany to make the payments.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel ruled out war reparations to the Greek state. Instead, she is in favor of joint projects through a “fund with the future”. The program will have an annual budget worth 1 million euros as a gesture of atonement for Nazi atrocities in Greece during World War II.

By Birgit Jennen

A German government fund meant as a gesture of atonement for Nazi atrocities in Greece during World War II is languishing as the two countries spar over Greece?s future financing, German officials say.