Scholz visit a chance to rectify ties

Athens wants the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Greece on Wednesday and Thursday to serve as the beginning of a dynamic restart to bilateral relations between the two countries.

Indicatively, aides to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis have underlined the timing of the visit, after the completion of Greece’s enhanced supervision, while noting the difficulties bilateral relations experienced during the bailout period.

Now, they stress, it is time to put all that behind the two countries.

The agenda of talks will include all issues related not only to bilateral contacts between the two countries, but also to the challenges facing the European Union amid the current international and regional crises. 

The central issue will of course be energy and the search for common ground and the EU’s response to the energy crisis. Greece has stressed that the issue is a major challenge for all and considers that Berlin, despite its negative position on the proposal to impose a cap on gas prices, has shown willingness to listen and explore alternatives. 

The second aspect of the energy problem concerns Greece’s enormous potential for using renewable energy sources and Germany’s keen interest in gas-free alternatives. 

Also central to the talks will be the war in Ukraine and the challenges to stability emerging in the wider region, including Turkey’s position. Athens believes that the German leadership has gradually shifted from its initial stance of maintaining equal distances and that the German Foreign Ministry and Chancellery now support the Greek positions.

Probably not unrelated to Scholz’s visit to Athens was Tuesday’s statement by Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, who accused Greece of “expansionism” and believing that it “will trample on our rights by asking for help from someone.”