Breathtaking hypocrisy: Germany owes Greece 11 billion euros in unpaid loans – Pride’s Purge
Mr Tsipras says Frau Merkel’s Germany is behaving like a ‘Fourth Reich’, trying to use its debts to rule Greece. But will he be able to defeat Germany’s powers of financial coercion?
“In 1943, Germany forced the Bank of Greece to lend it two loans worth 11 billion euros in today’s money. And Germany has still not paid back the debt,” writes Tom Pride.
“Which – considering the Germans have been bleating on and on and bloody on about how the Greeks should honour their present debts – is a case of breathtaking hypocrisy writ large, I’d say.”
He’s got a very good point – look at this report (from the Torygraph) of German sabre-rattling against the new Greek government, which is determined to reverse austerity measures imposed on the country and to renegotiate (read ‘cancel’) its debts:
“Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, said Greece is legally bound by its agreements. ‘There are rules, there are agreements. New elections change nothing,’ he said.”
So the will of a country’s people counts for “nothing” then?
It seems the German government has just put its foot in its massive ministerial mouth.
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Oh dear oh dear germany 0 Greece 6 ops
Looks like Greece needs to conduct an urgent, in depth, ‘debt review’ as was done in several south american countries.. hopefully they can then discover the amount of illegitimate debt that has been palmed off onto the country and repudiate it
What an absolute classic “Hypocrisy at it’s best” I truly hope it works out for Greece enough is enough and what has become apparent is others across Europe are starting to think the same way.
You may find this interesting…
http://www.lse.ac.uk/researchAndExpertise/researchImpact/PDFs/germany-hypocrisy-eurozone-debt-crisis.pdf
Is that with interest from 1943 till now?
I think the 11 billion is just what the original loan would be, in today’s money. Who knows – or dares to calculate – what the interest could possibly be?
Two years ago, Der Spiegel estimated the reparation to be 162 billion euros: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/greek-commission-concludes-germany-owes-billions-in-war-reparations-a-893084.html
TRILLION MY FRIEND. Sum calculated already.
Wow.
Dear Mike,
I wrote 2 articles in a humorous way 3 years ago. Just Google “The Truth About Greece” and “More Truth About Greece” and click on the first result every time. I have written there a few things about the war reparations and the war loan. Jackques Delpla, economic advisor of Sarkozy, ex-president of France, calculated the amount in total at about 575 billion euros, including all the interests, based on the international banking interest rate standards and having taken into account of course a standard dollar rate, without inflations that took place in WWII etc (I think the 1938 rate or something, I am sorry, don’t remember exactly at the moment). This is one approach. Many different analysts around the world have different opinions on the sum, but in any case, the total, always is bigger than our country’s complete debt!
Google my 2 articles and let me know what you think, if you want! They are made with memes, like a comic, so that anyone can read a “difficult” subject in a fun and easy to comprehend with way :)
I think each article would “cost” you around 6-7 minutes :)
Thanks!
Dimitris
That was a totally different German government, which is now gone. If you want them to repay that loan, better take along a shovel!
Doesn’t matter. The British government spent almost 70 years paying off its war debt to America – and it didn’t matter that the actual government changed several times during that period. The UK owed the debt; the UK had to pay.
The British government is not a good example of one who repays its debts. ‘they had to pay’ because it was in their interest to. During the first world war they caused the Arabs to revolt against the Turks under the promise of an independent Arab nation and land. Promises they never intended to keep (Sykes/Picot agreement and the Balfour declaration). The Arabs fought and died for the British cause so that the brits did not have to get their hands too dirty in the middle east. This betrayal has cost the regions in the middle east a lot more than they bargained for. These debts are not being repaid. This is just one example of many, coming from a person who is British.
if thats the case/excuse, Michael, then surely the exact same case/excuse can be applied to Greece today….totally different government which is now gone….id say both debts cancel each other out…
My thoughts, exactly, Helen.
September 28, 2010: Germany pays off its World War 1 (one) debt!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1315869/Germany-end-World-War-One-reparations-92-years-59m-final-payment.html
There’s a very good article on The Critique Archives covering what Germany’s World War One debt did to that country. It’s at https://thegreatcritique.wordpress.com/2015/01/14/the-wrong-lessons-of-the-weimar-republic/
Υes and there is a new government in Greece who should not have to pay the debts and loans of the previous governments. If Greece has to take a shovel, Germany can take an I.O.U.
The UK had to pay back its war debt to the USA, and it took the better part of 70 years – no matter which government was in office. It’s the nation that owes the debt, not the government that ran it up in the nation’s name.
Based on your logic then this is also not enforceable:
Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany’s finance minister, said Greece is legally bound by its agreements. ‘There are rules, there are agreements. New elections change nothing,’ he said.”
Seriously.
This is a different Greek government too.
Germany paid back most of the countries that suffered the forced loans during WWII, some of them, many years after the war was ended. Greece was NOT one of these countries. A crime is not a crime after some years? If I want to be completely honest, Greek governments should be blamed too -they didn’t insist to take the money back-.
But this is not an excuse… Greece was exempted cause it is a small country with no power (this fact makes Germany’s behavior even worse for my opinion). I do not know if there is a way to pay us back now, but at least Germany should think twice before they, hypocritically, speak about debts, obligations and rules.
We are a proud nation who works hard and not the “lazy Greeks” that Mrs. Merkel blames us.
Proud! Where’s the pride in systematically begging and begging for more?
Alina, allow me to correct you on a small detail:
Greek governments DID systematically, again and again, insist to take that money back.
Greece demanded from Germany the paying of the war loan and war reparations in 1945, 1946, 1947, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1974, 1981 (when the German Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher of Foreign Affairs came in Greece and Andreas Papandreou set the matter, he replied that “everyone would laugh with us if we raised such a point of discussion 50 years after!), 1987 and in 1995. Germany refuses systematically to repay to Greece their obligations. In 1964, the German Chancellor Erhard promised the paying of the debt after the unification of Germany which was completed in 1990. Nevertheless, we are still waiting!
In December 2011 (if I remember well), a journalist asked the Vice-Chancellor of Germany Philipp Rösler when he was in Athens “what about your debt of war reparations for Greece?” and he replied “Let’s leave all this now as we have other things to concern now”.
GERMAN economic historian Albrecht Ritschl said in an interview on the German magazine “Der Spiegel” that “Germany should follow a more modest policy against Greece in the eurocrisis of 2008-2011, as they may find themselves against righteous demands for war reparations of WWII” (Der Spiegel, June 21, 2011, guardian.co.uk, June 21, 2011).
Here’s the link in German: http://www.spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soziales/0,1518,769052,00.html
Google “The Truth About Greece” and “More Truth About Greece”, some old “fun” articles I wrote about this stuff some 3 years ago… click on the 1st result each time and let me know what you think, if you’d like to! :)
Καλημέρα!
You also need to Take into account how much money the said country has taken from the ECB. Greece was not deemed too small but too volatile a regime to make continuous payments. The article has no facts of figures to back it up.
Dear Michael F Rivero,
as a Greek, I agree! We shouldn’t look at 60-70 years before, we should look at the future! Therefore, since the German debt to Greece is so old, this automatically erases all of my country’s debts, which are dated from the 1800s, after the Greek revolution against the Turks, when we were assisted by many countries. So, they don’t pay, as it’s not fair to pay a debt that comes from 70 years before, therefore, it’s not fair for us to keep paying for a 200 years old debt, so, nobody pays and we all live happy! :)
I like that! :D
The imposition to convert private bank debt to public debt is unprecedented and the key reason to the zero growth of the EURO zone since 2008. See this good RT discussion, Cross Talk: http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/226067-great-recession-recovers-world/
What do you think of George Osborne’s plan to turn that public debt into private household debt?
What debt is Eire owed ?
Its a little bit like Britain not paying the rent for the bases they keep Cyprus since 1959. goverments have changed the status remains. when Maggie was asked to settle the debt …..well we know the answer to that. Perhaps if they did pay, it would get Cyprus out of the financial problem they are in, fat chance of that happening though. Big fish small fish comes to mind i rest my case.
ta kleftronia MIN mas fane kai tous TOKOUS,,,!!! 6% ..x 70 YEARS !!… TZAMPANTZIDES…..
If anybody can translate this I would be very grateful. I’m just hoping none of it is jaw-droppingly profane.
Translation: Thieves, they want to stiff us on the interest! 6% x 70 years ! Freeloaders!
He said “the thieves should not steal the interest also, 6% x 70 years…FREELOADERS…”
Thank you!
thiefs DON’T nick the interest owned to us…!!! 6% x 70 years. free blaggers
Thanks very much.
According to Google Translate…
“the thief NOT us eat and INTEREST,,, !!! 6% ..ch 70 YEARS !! … TZAMPANTZIDES”
I think that says more about Google Translate than anything else!
Bulls*** !!!
All used to envy and blame Greece for everything.What happened? Time passed and more countries are in our shoes, I guess.
This is how WWIII starts
This debt is known to Greece and Germany for 60+ years now. Greece has “asked” the pipmps (Merkel) to give it but the thing was never in the surface. The fact that this article comes up TODAY show me how wrong are the people outside Greece about reality and not TV’s reality. Wake up. You might be next.
All Im saying is with total respect.
Billions of pounds, millions of lives………..and all for what exactly?
Seemingly to spend decades tossing digits around and bending rules to suit themselves, however you dress it up.
http://qz.com/290183/in-2014-countries-are-still-paying-off-debt-from-world-war-one/
Read on!
All the energy wasted by Greece to beg for more instead of cleaning up their own mess. All the loans in the world will not change the fact that Greece is a deeply corrupt society seeking easy money and refusing to face their own responsibilities. Greece talks about pride, they are proud beggars. And amazingly they feel no shame in begging, just like spoiled children asking for more candies when they are already obese.
An opinion like this comes from a person who is being feeded with information from the Media. If you would be living in Greece you would see what reality is about. It is really a shame how the TV and press can guide and manipulate somebody’s mind. This is an easy way to cultivate hate between the nations. We all should open our mind and face what is really going on!
Yes, we all like that. We like to be beggars, and we are very proud about this as you said, you got us! I am sure you feel good for writing this and I am happy for you because you seem to have found the root of the problem that bothers Europe. You see, It all started when we all decided to have a break from work, worries, headlines and all we wanted was to spend Germany΄s money, because we could! How cool is that? Anyway, enough with the irony, the only thing that I blaim Greeks is that most of them in the past 30 years believed in corrupted politicians with no ethics and with only task their families getting richer always under the table. Say whatever you want about our previous governments, but do not put in the same category the Greek citizen (with 500 euros/month to live) who has looked himself in the mirror and decided to change the whole scene with SYRIZA who cannot fully guarantee Greece΄s next day, but he is willing, and very afraid also, to lose even this 500 (=12 hours, 6 days work) just for NOT people like you call him a beggar anymore. Your comment was very arrogant
Well said Christina. You’ll recall that before you give out a loan, you should do a due dilligence. Why was this not done? Could it be because it suited those who had shares in the companies, which got the arms deals and building (airports, olympic villages etc.) contracts?
We are not like the wealthy countries who colonised, enslaved and pillaged for the sake of development. We do not pray to a royal bloodline. All we want is a stable economy, which will provide a healthy lifestyle and freedom.
Walter, you would do yourself a service by learning a few facts before you type! Every country has tax dodgers, just look at UK? To tar the whole Nation has you have is stupidity!
It’s the Bankers and Corporates who have stolen, right across Europe and US! Why do you think US are fighting in Ukraine, Syria, Iraq?
Because Russia along with China want to create their own trade bloc and this will take countries OUT of the ‘Petrodollar’. Obviously the bankers don’t like it, this is exactly how WW1 & WW2 started. The ‘Bankers & Corporates’ want to create their own world, only problem is, they need us to run it and don’t want to pay! The TTIP will be their finest achievement, we all become slaves under this deal. This is why EU insist on ‘Free Movement’, it guarantees plenty of cheap labour, on tap?
Wait just a minute; Greece and Cyprus both have much lower taxation than all the western European countries including Germany. Yet still it is almost standard practice by people (including politicians) in Greece and Cyprus to avoid paying tax. So I ask the question, why should any nation that’s hard working people paying higher and all of their tax’s, pay any money to a nation full of lazy cheating people that do not pay into their own government via tax? Greedy lazy people always ready to blame their problems on any and everyone else except themselves.
Average pay is also much lower. Could that have something to do with it?
Everyone avoids taxes.. Just because people don’t say it in order not to get in trouble does not mean they do not practice tax evasion.. And ill even go as far as to prompt you to prove me otherwise lso do you even have a slight clue abiut the average wage in cyprus? And i do not mean the non sense Wikipedia says, i mean the actual wage a common citizen can get? Let me tell you it’s much lower than you think
26 per cent income tax….for small busineses and this is from the first euro you earn…hellow….
You call Greeks ”Lazy people”, but recent studies claim that people in Greece work 2037 hours per year (the third country in the world after Mexico and South Korea) while in Germany 1388 hours per year.
Average work output is also much lower.
Greek and Cypriots wouldn’t know what customer service was if it hit them in the head. They have two hour lunch breaks finish at 3pm and even the retail sector is reluctant to work on a Saturday. Just make a call to a so called professional corporate company, if anyone actually answers it will probably be with a not so polite NE, then the conversation will probably not result in any kind of success to the caller and he/ she will probably have to call several times more, that’s if they don’t just hang up on you.
Again I put it to you; would you get that kind of service in Germany?
Simple put Germans work harder and therefor receive subsequently higher pay, they also have higher taxes and a much higher cost of living.
I believe the saying goes you can only take out what you put in.
2h lunch break and finish at 3pm? yeap. I think you are misinformed. How is that possible,the germans work so much harder\longer when retail stores in Greece open at 8am.and close at 9pm. not to speak about some private shops where you can find them open even after 11pm.Working 12h a day. This is unpayable! As many times as I visited Germany I could hardly find an open shop after 6 pm. max. 6.30 ! So I think this also reflects on the economical position of a country or not? How about telling a german-or an in Germany living person he should work 40h-week for 420€ ….. yes, I think he would prefer the hartz4. which by the way….is something missing in Greece!
Dear idiot …does working on a Saturday make for a better more productive citizen..or could it be the way of the world economy/system that when compared to the 70s/80s working a saturday was quite unusual.im sure given a choice …most normal healthy people would much prefer some other past time and who ever said it was the only way to clothe feed and educate oneself have you ever given thought that we are all cogs in wheel turning not so much by choice but system and needs and wants
just to satisfy my curio if you were a person living in Deutchland in the late 40’s with instant minute live contact to a world audience with the power in your keyboard would you so easily without regard say what , when , who whatever about a whole country and its people in such a way are we all the same dear idiot is it possible that we are all lazy tax cheats and beggers and peope who only look to blame others …could that be so ..perhaps its so that you and others such as wise old walter and logic lucas could have been like everyone in germany during the wwii ….honestly …
I dont like to drag stuff from the past but if you all can so why cant I or any other person for that matter do so …
since greece and its financial woes appear to have started before the crises why are we all thrown in the same cesspool..
Long winded but im to the top with cold narrow minded media feed idiots myself..
Mr tired of idiots …you should start a training system in greece with your expertise and friendly open holistic broadminded approach turn greek customer service standards on its head…and from Ne teach them ja…..
You’re quite right Mr tired of idiots. But why then do the Germans look so glum, if all is so good. And why do the Greeks still smile, even though things are so bad. I think the Germans all need a Greek holiday.
A loan is a loan, call a spade for a spade. It needs to be paid back….reminds me of when I lent $500 to a friend who conveniently lost contact and never paid it back….
Dear savvas Actually yes I have a very good idea as I have just left Cyprus after living there for four years; I have also lived in various countries around the world including Greece, Germany and the UK.
Unfortunately it is almost impossible to actually prove what you ask me to prove, but I would say whilst some big corporations and extremely wealthy individuals in western Europe do try to avoid a certain tax burdens, through the use of tax loop holes, (which indecently Cyprus has for many years used and profited from), the vast majority of western European citizens (95% in my opinion) cannot and do not avoid paying into the system. So when you say everyone I think you are wrong, I do not personally know anybody in the UK or Germany that avoid tax, nobody not one person, yet in my relatively short time in both Greece and Cyprus almost all local residents that I know are avoiding one tax or another.
As a good example Cypriot property tax is based on the value of the property in 1980, 35 years ago thus very small in comparison to Western Europe, yet still a trick used by many is to leave the property unfinished (meaning to have some re-bar sticking out from the top of the building) for several years, in order to not pay said tax.
Where in Western Europe could you get away with that?
All tax systems have flaws; I have lived in the UK for 9 years and I had a few neighbors who lived on government benefits by becoming single underaged mothers, so sorry to break the news but is was you and me – the tax payers- who supported them.
You know you are talking about two different countries though, right? Yes we all used to be Greeks but we have not been for quite some time now. Maybe you did not take a good look at the waitress that served you your turkish coffee in Cyprus, she was speaking English to you because she was neither Greek or Cypriot.
I pity the fact that you like generalizing so much, it gives me the impression you like to point the finger a lot. Beware friend; When you point one finger, you have three fingers pointing back at you.
my daughter works 5pm til 1am 7 days a week during the summer for 750 euros, she is 28 and has a degree in Hotel Management…receives unemployment for 3 months in the winter…my younger daughter works with her father 8am til 2pm..or later and 8pm til after midnight…7 days a week in the summer..and receives no unemployment in the winter…!!!! so Walter, I am not sure who you are talking about…
In that case lets take out Greece from the EU and Euro.
Go Greece.
Its not by accident that you have been around for 4,000 years,
and will probably continue long after some of the other players
have ceased.
This time your dilemma is only financial. You have
fought greater adversity than this and always ended up on top.
Everybody talk about lazy Greeks and corrupted goverment! Let me tell you my story. I moved 3 years ago from Greece to Amsterdam for better future. I was blaming Greek system because i was working 10 hours per day for 25 euro. That means 2,5 euro per hour. Before taking a decision to move to Amsterdam i asked some people about the life there. The answer was “much better than Greece”. So now i’m here in Amsterdam. In 3 years what i saw here? 1st year i worked in Steak House restaurant. The employer was paying me 6 euro per hour without contract instead of 7,5 which is the minimum. Every shop asking the customers if they want a receipt for the products they buy. WHY???? You can’t have a normal life here because you have to live always with other people sharing the kitchen and toilet. No privacy at all. WHY??? Because the minimum price of one room is 500 euro. So, you can’t even think to rent an apartment. People here who have a house they rent it by rooms. Most of them they don’t give you a contract which means they don’t pay taxes. Most of night bars they never give you a receipt. I think everywhere is the same. If the people can hide their incomes they will do it no matter which country. The only difference between Greece and rich countries is that in Greece we have sun and better quality of life. The only thing we miss in Greece is better salary and goverment who will change the tax system.
Anyone remembers that the financial crisis Europe is going through was caused initially by the United States and then grew stronger in each country because of their national problems? I wonder why the countries with problems are not begging for money in the US instead of Germany.
But it is not only that: I lived for three years in Spain and spaniards are also in a really sad situation, but it would never have ocurred to them to blame others for their problems. In six years of crisis, spaniards never compared Mrs. Merkel to Hitler or other really stupid things (and besides, we are not claiming reparations from France for the invasion of Napoleon or from Italy for the invasions of the Roman Empire). Part of the greek people do and that is just an attitude of jealous losers. It was not germans who invented the greek system of the Papandreou and Karamanlis dynasties who financed electoral victories by creating jobs for their supporters in public administration and giving public concessions to companies hold by their friends causing bancrupcy of the state with this practices.
I would like to point out a couple things to the greek haters out there…
1) The main argument from everyone but the die-hards is NOT for war reparations. it is to be paid back a legitimate (even though at gunpoint) loan that the greek government gave the german one… no one who knows the situation can deny that one nation lent money to another one… the debate isnt- does greece deserves money b/c of damages suffered, but is one nation obligated to pay back money it was lent?
2) The money greece received in the 2010 bailouts DID NOT GO TO GREECE… it went to pay back all the creditors… a very tiny portion, if any, of the bailout money actually went to the country… all the EU did by ‘bailing out’ greece was give back the money to the banks/people who bought greek debt over the years so their own banking systems don’t collapse… this has always been about saving their own skins, at the cost of very severe poverty in greece… that is why the greek people are saying enough is enough- the EU is trying to force the country to be a permanent underclass b/c it will NEVER be able to pay back these loans and will not let the country default and begin to try to repair itself…
Of course, all the people who do not share the opinion to cut of greek debts are greek haters…
As I said, I lived in the south and in comparison to other germans who -that is quite true – are not aware of the situation there, I know quite well that people is suffering.
If it was for me, I would not be against cutting of some debts of countries who admitted their economical errors and learned the lesson like Spain or Ireland. Concerning countries like Greece that have not done their homework but are blaming others for their situation and that often in a racist and disgusting way comparing our government to nazi regime, I would not give one single cent.
So, why didn’t Germany left Greece to deal with the crisis alone anyway she liked? After all, Greece was not the 4th most powerful economy in Europe as Spain is (and Prime Minister Rajoy reminded that to the Spanish finance minister each time he had to negotiate with the EU). But Greece was one of the best customers of Germany’s (and France’s) arms industry, thanks to our corrupted politicians. When all these were over, Germany forced Greece to ask for help from the International Monetary Fund, so that the Fund would gain access to the EU and remain as a constant threat for anyone going bankrupt in the future. So Germany taught us all a lesson (or two). Of course, Spaniards have no grounds for war reparations since they did NOT enter WWII, while at the same time the Nationalists were supported and supplied by the Nazis. But for the rest of us war crimes and crimes against humanity do not admit amnesty (amnesty is derived from the Greek word “amnestia”, ἀμνηστία, which means forgetting)
That is good news for the turks, because if war crimes do not admit amnesty, then I am sure that we will see the greek government pay some indemnization for the muslim civilians murdered in your country in the war of 1920-1923. Who is free of sin cast the first stone…
So, you people indeed want to teach other Europeans lessons! But first try to learn some history, especially about genocides
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_genocide
Is this necessary? Let’s stick to the current situation, please.
Current Situation is what people in Greece is because of what you people did the last forty years after the overthrow of monarchy, not some old histories of World War II. If that is put on the table, we should then put all on the table, which is for example Greece attacking a defenseless country in 1919 and then, after being defeated, coming up with victimism like now.
If we are talking about the actual situation though, it would be a good thing to stop comparing our government with nazi government (I thought it was actually Greece, having a huge nazi party sitting in the parliament, and not Germany). And if we are analizing only the actual situation and not history, it would be nice installing a funtioning financial administration in Greece like everywhere else in Europe. Last news was that greek government lacks 4 billions of euros because greeks retained their taxes. That is really funny. I guess this 4 billions lacking is fault of Germany too.
Hey guys. I’m not gonna tell you where I come from, what countries I’ve visited, studied, or have been living in, if I am 25 or 60, a hippy or a goth, but some of the comments are heartbreaking.. It is really sad seeing people, not nations, but people, turning against each other just because media, politics etc have the power to influence our feelings, ideas, values and our daily lives.. I understand that many of us may feel that their lives and future are sometimes “represented” by those in power but come on.. Don’t judge people, saying they are beggars just because a few powerful people have the power to control their lives.. Don’t turn against the ones in need. There are far more responsible people than the 60 year old lady in Greece living with 350 euros a month or the 24 year old mechanical engineer who works 10 hours a day for 3 euros an hour.. I am sure many will ignore this but I don’t care.. Please don’t use the internet to judge people in the safety of your warm house. Use it to change the world.
“The Greek people are anarchic and difficult to tame. For this reason we must strike deep into their cultural roots: Perhaps then we can force them to conform. I mean, of course, to strike at their language, their religion, their cultural and historical reserves, so that we can neutralize their ability to develop, to distinguish themselves, or to prevail; thereby removing them as an obstacle to our strategically vital plans in the Balkans, the Mediterranean, and the Middle East.”
(As reported in the popular Greek magazine, Oikonomikos Tachydromos on 14 Aug. l997, Henry Kissinger, while addressing a group of Washington, D.C. businessmen in Sept.1974)
Well said Lukas.
This financial crisis is fake, the majority of greek people are well educated and respect laws, we pay the sins of a few corrupted politicians that are out of the lights and left us begging for equality accross the EU. We are EU citizens and no matter what we will stand up again and make this country great. People have to understand that the image that social media created for us is fake.
11 billion “in today’s value” according to whom and using what method?
Ok let’s subtract that from the 270 billion that Greece owes, and then what? Who could they possibly blame then, maybe the Romans for the invasion of Greece in 146BC, surely by “todays value” that would really have some interest.
After WW1 the Germans had nothing, to the point the French were taking coal as payment from them.
After WWII Germany was left in ruins, look at them now, they did not blame anybody they got on with it, worked hard and rebuilt; they should be seen as a shining example to the Greeks.
The difference, Germans think of themselves as a nation, they are polite respectful and helpful to one another.
In Greece and Cyprus it’s almost every man for himself, with the exception of Koumbara and cousins.
Don’t forget the interest that has accrued since 1943, at six per cent per year, I’m told.
http://www.france24.com/en/20150129-london-agreement-1953-debt-write-germany-economic-miracle-greece-austerity/
It appears “Mr tired of idiots” you had a very bad 4 years stay in Cyprus. I do not intend to speak politics. Without judging you personally, and being myself part foreigner in Cyprus, I may say that Cyprus is better without people with your mentality here. Foreigners come here for different reasons, and in most part do not respect the country and language. Cypriots may have flaws, but respect people who respect them. What we have in North Europe is not respect and politeness. It is a fake attitude to pass through the day. That’s how we are educated.
I may inform you that people on that Small Island do not mind working and are very proud of doing so. In our “great” Countries, as you imply, people work the minimum possible and always complain about how bad their lives are. In Cyprus, not so long ago (before the crisis) Cypriots had several jobs each and the only complain they had, was not having enough people at their table to share their meal with. I might understand why you haven’t experienced that with such an attitude. I might add that I have changed myself since choosing to finally stay here permanently, actually mixing with the locals and enjoying life more than before.
Demand Respect “Mr tired of idiots” after you have shown worthy to be respected. Your above comments demonstrate only one thing; you are a provocateur and as such you will continue to give unfounded opinions just for the pleasure of doing so.
Interest rates, that’s another great subject, and yet another reason the Greek /Cypriot banks went down. Go back to pre-2008. Have a look at the average interest rate in a German bank and then have a look at an average Greek / Cypriot bank. I think you will see quite a difference. So even with favorable tax rates and favorable interest rates, they still blame the harder working Germans.
Now I will have to say what I am about to say does not apply so much to Greece but is aimed at Cyprus as I know firsthand. I’m not going to say every house hold, but there are defiantly a large number of households in Cyprus that have Asian servants working in the house, cleaning, cooking, walking dogs, looking after children and elderly etc. I’m not so sure you will find the same in Germany and defiantly not at the same ratio. I believe Porsche did a study in Cyprus due to the strange fact that there were more Porsche Cayenne sold per capita than in any other European country (Due to easy loans). Yet the Cypriots plead poverty and blame Germany and Europe for Stealing their money, even thou it was their own government that pushed the bill through parliament and that was absolutely aimed at the wealthy Russian individuals, whom without Cyprus would have died out long ago. The non-performing loans in Cyprus are at about 50%, why? Not because the people have not got the money but because they refuse to pay it, in the hope that European bailouts will write it off.
The Two-plus-Four -Agreement on the final settlement with respect to what was then East and West Germany took effect in 1990. The agreement was recognized by Greece and provides for no further reparation payments.
If you accept an agreement that rules out your claims, that claim is gone.
Were they actually mentioned in this agreement?