Greek Prime Minister hopes Germany enters talks on WWII reparations

Greece hopes that Germany will enter negotiations regarding reparations for damages it caused during World War II.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed the hope on Thursday after his meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

On June 3, the Greek ambassador in Berlin gave to the German Foreign Ministry a note in which Athens urged its fellow EU member to start negotiations on the issue of reparations for its actions against Greece during the two World Wars.

This came in the wake of an April decision by the Greek parliament to pursue the issue.

“Truly, it is a complicated issue, and you understand how poignantly Greeks react to it.
“This is why we hoped to soon or at some point close this complicated chapter (in bilateral relations).
“As you know, the Greek parliament has made a decision to send a verbal note to Germany, which states that we would like to see the beginning of negotiations.

“We hope for a positive reaction. I believe that solving this problem could play an important role in strengthening ties between our countries,” Mr Mitsotakis said.

Greece wants Germany to pay 309.5 billion euros ($342.8 billion) in damages in connection with World War II and 9.2 billion euros for World War I.

The government also demands that Berlin returned stolen historical relics.

According to a report by a Greek inter-party parliamentary commission, on which the parliament’s decision was based, some 558,000 Greeks died and 880,000 were crippled during the Second World War. (Sputnik/NAN)