A "gift" to FRAU MERKEL

The Greek Foreign Minister mr Venizelos (nee Turkoglou according to the US Embassy) characterizes as inadequate the report of the task of the Legal Council of the State. This report is about the German debts to Greece (Hellas) and specifically the forced Occupation Loan and the World War I & II Reparations. Questions are raised by the strange delays in moving the case forward.

As it is known, the issue was reopened by Mr. D. Avramopoulos, who as foreign minister, moved methodically to claim the debt under the rules of international law.

The assumption, however, of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Mr Venizelos (nee Turkoglou according to the US Embassy) suddenly paused all progress. 

While within  short time there was very important progress by the actions and initiatives of Mr. Avramopoulos, Mr. Venizelos not only does not show a similar mobility, but instead follows a delaying tactic in the subject.

A year ago, the Legal Council of State had been entrusted to the drafting finding on the issue of German reparations. It is unknown when the final report was delivered, but was regarded as a closely guarded secret.

There is information that the report was delivered months ago to Mr Venizelos, who however, has not -since now- shown any intention in proceeding to the next stage of the German reparations claim. 

However, pressure was enforced by members of all parties, without exception the New Democracy parliamentarians, about the fate, the content and the findings of the Legal Council of State.

The President of PASOK, to avoid giving clear answers, claimed that the content of the report is secret.

But when rumors started spreading about the impending question tabling in parliament from all the Parliamentary Group of SYRIZA, led by Mr.Tsipras himself, Mr. Venizelos was alarmed and decided to change tactic. Of course, this is not by choosing to take the next step of claiming parliamentary allowances, but to delay the process further. How?

By claiming the findings prepared by the Legal Council of the State as inadequate, which Mr Venizelos remitted to the plenary of the SLC. 

Speaking last night in the House Mr. Venizelos spoke of deficiencies of the findings, noting characteristically that "the findings are not what I would recommend  the Hellenic Republic to follow."

In fact, Mr. Venizelos does not want to annoy Berlin with such an issue, and especially in the pre-election period. His ambition is to take back the issue as far as possible.

Besides this, the issue of German reparations is a ' red flag ' for the Germans and especially to Mr. Schäuble. For the record, the only one who replied to the German Finance Minister was Mr. Avramopoulos, who paid for this reply with his dismissal from the Foreign Ministry.  

READ THE REPORT (IN GREEK) : http://www.scribd.com/doc/211513895/THE-TOP-SECRET-REPORT-OF-THE-LEGAL-COUNCIL-OF-THE-STATE-CONCERNING-THE-GERMAN-OCCUPATION-LOAN

related: 

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2013/04/herr-schauble-reden-sie-uber-die.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2011/06/instead-of-another-loan-why-not-get-war.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2013/10/albrecht-ritschl-if-germany-paid-war.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2013/05/albrecht-ritschl-germany-is-champion-in.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2012/11/occupation-loan-510-bn-german-debt-to.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2013/04/historical-deposit-what-i-was-told.html

http://greeceandworld.blogspot.gr/2013/04/justice-will-triumph-in-assertion-of.html

"Herr Schäuble, reden Sie über die Kriegsschulden!"

Athen fordert Entschädigung. Wie viel, ist noch offen. Die Rede ist von 160 Milliarden Euro, plus Zinsen seit 1945

 Von Boris Kálnoky  und Dimitra Moutzouri

Das Bild des Tages in der griechischen Zeitung "
Ta Nea" zeigte eine zärtliche Hand auf der Wange eines sehr alten Mannes.
Die Hand gehörte Außenminister Dimitris Avramopoulos, und die Wange war 
jene von Griechenlands Nationalheld Nummer eins, Manolis Glezos. 
"Deutschland bringt sie einander näher", lautete die Unterschrift.

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Justice will triumph in the assertion of German reparations

Message of unity and common effort to assert the German reparations emitted in a rare unanimous vote, the entire political world during the debate in the House of Parliament on Wednesday morning, despite the individual "cacophonies" of the Golden Dawn party.

In response to questioning of 60 Members of SYRIZA, Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos assured that "what is ours, we claim it in the correct and legal way and no one is in any doubt that we make all the necessary for this action" sending a clear message that the issue of German reparations, this time, "opened and will be closed, with Justice triumph." "The issue will close and I believe that justice is above all moral" he said.

At the same time, the Foreign Minister made clear in every direction that to restore the issue of reparations should not be seen as a hostile move to the German people. "The citizens of Germany themselves have condemned the atrocities of the Nazi regime. And it is certain that they understand the position of the Greeks, which in no way identifies the current democratic Germany with the Nazi regime, "he said, to fill with meaning that it is wrong "some to attempt to link the fiscal adjustment needed in our country and the major reforms that promote with the issue of the compensations. "

Indeed, as explained, "an issue open for sixty years does not fit the schedule of financial crisis." Instead, Dimitris Avramopoulos argued that, the settlement "ends the last dark spot left to us by history and heralds a new chapter in our relations."

Meanwhile, Dimitris Avramopoulos made known that in this phase, the Legal Council of State made the legal process, evaluation and documentation of the contents of the report prepared by the General Accounting Office - and by extension the claims of Greek public - and informed the members of the National Agency for the competent services of the Ministry of Foreign awaiting legal counsel, that "we have a strong legal basis".

Earlier, the head of SYRIZA Alexis Tsipras spoke for a major national issue-as claimed-not claimed or raised so far by Greek governments. "We need to see why and to realize that we are accountable to the Greek people, the generation of national resistance and future generations," he said, noting that the issue should be put up to the Summit and the European public opinion "to create a solidarity movement in Greece. "


Meanwhile, Mr Tsipras argued that "if we accept the logic to distinguish war reparations from the loan we would have no luck at either bilateral negotiations or in legal level" and defended the political negotiation within international and European institutions, with the argument that "a broad grassroots international movement of solidarity to the Greek request is required." He proposed, the formation of a Special Select Committee, from which even asked "to exclude the Nazi party Golden Dawn, whose presence is an embarrassment to the Parliament."

Intervening in the debate an MP of SYRIZA and a symbol of resistance to the anti-Nazi struggle Manolis Glezos welcomed the government's initiative to bring the issue of German reparations and addressed to Foreign Minister requested an immediate discussion on the issue with the German side, noting that "The mere fact that Schaeuble says the issue is being terminated, it means that there was an issue. "

"If the government does this, be sure that it has all the Greek people together because it will finally identify itself with the history of the nation and the future of our country,"he said (Manolis Glezos) and added that "the question is not what Greece (claims)  but what has been adjudged to Germany to pay to our country. "

source: http://www.tanea.gr/news/politics/article/5014076/syzhthsh-gia-tis-germanikes-apozhmiwseis-sth-boylh/

Germany Is In Default - And Lies About It

GREECE, Italy, and now Cyprus, are all in the process of claims for unpaid German war debts.

Germany in turn currently pretends to be the leading light of fiscal responsibility (its not there in reality, hence they have to propagandise it), whilst having tried some truely jaw dropping manuevers in an attempt to avoid payment or allowing markets to smell blood. They are in default! Yet they have covered it up like this:

It started in the 1920’s when Germany issued series of bearer bonds in the USA for revitalisation of its economy following the devastating effects of WWI. Acting as trustees, financial institutions such as JP Morgan and Lee Higgins & Co. produced and sold bonds in America raising funds that would be invested in Germany. 

These bonds corresponded to Agricultural Loans signed by 14 German banks and guaranteed by the German government. Of these 14 banks four are still active and are part of the troika mechanism.
From 1933, Germany defaulted on interest repayments to Bondholders, as the new Nazi leadership considered the debt that Germany faced following WWI as illegal and issued a moratorium on bonds owed to foreign investors.

In 1953 following years of German debt crisis, the London Debt Agreement restructured Germany’s debt to be sustainable by the agreement of its creditors.

The way this deal would function was to provide the option to the bondholders of German debt, to either accept the repayment terms of the LDA, or to forego attempts to claim their debt until 1993. The rationale being, that you can cash in today from a weak Germany, or wait for a full settlement after 40 years of German growth and development.

Assenting Bondholders: For bondholders who wanted to cash in their bonds immediately, they could receive partial payment, and new bonds, with a discount on the value of their bonds (depending on the issue, between 20% - 60%). For this to be implemented correctly, a procedure of Validation was set up to ensure that anyone presenting bonds for payment, could prove that they were indeed the beneficial owner. This would guarantee that all of the disbursements paid went directly to Germany’s creditors in the correct manor.

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90% of Greeks want government to pursue Germany over WWII reparations

That’s an interesting public opinion survey result that will increase pressure for the Greek government to carry on with the WWII demands from Germany. Eight in ten Greeks believe, the government should pursue Germany over the reparations for damages during the 2. World War. Even if some compensation was given for human losses and infrastructure damages, the ‘enforced loan’ of current worth 54 billion euro was never on the agenda between the two countries. It’s high time, it will come to the agenda.  Even if just to calm down the austerity- and recession-hit Greeks, who see in German government the reason for the rash deterioration of their financial situation.

...read more

Secret Athens Report: Berlin Owes Greece Billions in WWII Reparations

By Georgios Christidis in Thessaloniki

A top-secret report compiled at the behest of the Finance Ministry in Athens has come to the conclusion that Germany owes Greece billions in World War II reparations. The total could be enough to solve the country's debt problems, but the Greek government is wary of picking a fight with its paymaster.

The headline on Sunday's issue of the Greek newspaper To Vima made it clear what is at stake: "What Germany Owes Us," it read. The article below outlined possible reparations payments Athens might demand from Germany resulting from World War II. A panel of experts, commissioned by the Greek Finance Ministry, spent months working on the report -- an 80-page file classified as "top secret."

ANZEIGE

Now, though, the first details of the report have been leaked to the public. According to To Vima, the commission arrived at a clear conclusion: "Greece never received any compensation, either for the loans it was forced to provide to Germany or for the damages it suffered during the war."
The research is based on 761 volumes of archival material, including documents, agreements, court decisions and legal texts. Panagiotis Karakousis, who heads the group of experts, told To Vima that the researchers examined 190,000 pages of documents, which had been scattered across public archives, often stored in sacks thrown in the basements of public buildings.
The newspaper offered no concrete figure regarding the possible extent of reparation demands outlined in the report. But earlier calculations from Greek organizations have set the total owed by Germany at €108 billion for reconstruction of the country's destroyed infrastructure and a further €54 billion resulting from forced loans paid by Greece to Nazi Germany between 1942 and 1944. The loans were issued by the Bank of Greece and were used to pay for supplies and wages for the German occupation force.

Bad Time to 'Pick a Fight'
The total sum of €162 billion is the equivalent of almost 80 percent of Greece's current annual gross domestic product. Were Germany to pay the full amount, it would go a long way toward solving the debt problems faced by Athens. Berlin, however, has shown no willingness to revisit the question of reparations to Greece.
Athens too is wary of moving ahead with the demands. The government sees the report as being particularly sensitive due to the fear that it could damage their relations with Europe's most important supplier of euro-crisis aid.

The Greek public, however, has a different view. To Vima reflected the feelings of many by arguing that "the historical responsibility now falls on the three-party coalition government. It should publish all the findings and determine its position on this sensitive issue, which has detonated like a bomb at a time we are under extreme pressure from our lenders."
But political analysts believe that the Greek government is disinclined to raise the issue with Germany. The official government position, most recently expressed by deputy finance minister Christos Staikouras, is that Greece considers the issue open and "reserves the right … to bring it to a satisfactory conclusion."
The report is no longer in the hands of Finance Ministry officials. It was delivered in early March to Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulous and Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. "It will be a top level, political decision regarding how to use it, and Mr. Samaras will be the one to decide," a senior government official told SPIEGEL ONLINE. "This is no time to pick a fight with Berlin." 

source: SPIEGEL ON LINE INTERNATIONAL

related: 

Albrecht Ritschl: "If Germany paid war compensations, would go bankrupt immediately”

Jacques Delpla: Germany owes Greece €575bn from WWII

Instead of another loan, why not get the war reparations from Germany?

Reply to the German Foreign Office!