Greece's Tsipras Determined to Seek WWII Reparations from Germany

World » SOUTHEAST EUROPE | March 11, 2015, Wednesday // 10:16
Bulgaria: Greece's Tsipras Determined to Seek WWII Reparations from Germany reek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras delivers a speech during a special session at the parliament in Athens, Greece, 10 March 2015. Greece`s parliament on 10 March said it will move ahead with a renewed demand to pursue World War II reparations from Germany

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras has vowed to ask Berlin for reparations for World War Two.

Tsipras told Parliament a debate would begin on the setting up of a committee that is supposed to work to this end.

On Thursday night, the country's Justice Minister Nikos Paraskevopoulos also added Athens might pursue "requisition of German property in Greece" as a compensation for the Distomo massacre, perpetrated by the Nazi regime's Waffen-SS military force.  

“The Greek government will strive to honor its commitments to the full... But it will also strive to ensure all unfulfilled obligations toward Greece and the Greek people are fulfilled. You cannot pick and choose on ethical issues,” daily Kathimerini quoted him as saying and described it as an apparent reference to the ongoing talks on Greece's bailout program.

As in previous occasions, he recalled the international community's move to trim Germany's debt that the Nazi regime piled up before and during the war.

The developments come as Greece is set to begin new technical loan talks on Wednesday.

If lawmakers in Athens set up a reparations committee, this would virtually be a reestablishment of an older parliamentary structure that lad long sought compensation from Germany.

According to German weekly Der Spiegel, steps toward this end were observed in the 2000, when a PASOK government approved requisition of properties of German institutions (such as the Goethe-Institut), but the then Justice Minister backtracked after Berlin approved Greece's accession into the Eurozone.

 

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Tags: Alexis Tsipras, Germany, reparations, World War Two, WWII, Nikos Paraskevopoulos, Distomo massacre

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