From partnership to friendship? Olaf Scholz’s visit in Athens has been a success for both sides
Unsuspecting observers could have thought that the ghostwriters of the two politicians had coordinated their texts in advance. When Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz appeared before the press Thursday, both had a largely identical message: Both leaders spoke of a “new Greece,” new Greek-German relations, new challenges that need to be solved together in the spirit of European cooperation and solidarity.
The positive communication, the celebration of German-Greek understanding, must be viewed against the backdrop of the distortions of the past. Germany’s image among the Greek public is anything but rosy. To this day, a majority of Greeks do not speak well of Germany, blaming Berlin for the harsh austerity measures and the social degradation of the financial crisis. There are widespread calls for the rich partner in the heart of Europe to show more empathy and more solidarity.
Mitsotakis and Scholz, this became clear during the German chancellor’s first visit to Athens, were interested in an appearance of harmony. The Greek prime minister has already entered election campaign mode, and foreign policy successes are an important component of his campaign. Athens is vitally interested in international support in the dispute with Turkey. Berlin has recently moved cautiously toward Greece in the Greek-Turkish disputes. Unlike other German leaders, Scholz has not traveled on from Athens to Turkey. German mediation between the estranged NATO partners is nowhere in sight. This is not so much due to the Germans, who would be willing to do so, but to Erdogan’s Turkey, which has yet to establish a relationship of trust with the coalition government in Berlin. In Athens, Scholz repeated the now much-quoted position that it is unacceptable for NATO partners to question the sovereignty of another. For Mitsotakis – and for most of the Greek press – the repetition of this self-evident position seems to have been sufficient
For Scholz, the demonstrative closing of ranks with Mitsotakis was an opportunity to refute in practice the criticism of Germany’s “isolation” that has recently been heard across Europe. However, the exuberant cordiality should not obscure the fact that there exist serious political differences between Berlin and Athens. No less a person than Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias named them in front of running television cameras during the visit of his German colleague Annalena Baerbock three months ago. The issues at hand are the delivery of modern German submarines to Turkey, which Athens hopes to stop, and reparations for German war crimes during World War II.
Mitsotakis has diplomatically dealt with both these issues by as far as the submarines are concerned not mentioning the matter at all publicly. As to the reparations, the Greek leader repeated Athens’ official position that the issue remained unchanged, only to add that this issue would not “overshadow” Greek-German relations.
Olaf Scholtz’ visit to Athens points to a new, better climate in the bilateral relationship. This is an important prerequisite for the existing Greek-German partnership to develop into a political friendship in the future.
Dr Ronald Meinardus is a political analyst and commentator and Head of the Mediterranean Program at the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP)
