Nazi-era reparations debate back with a bang

A longstanding debate over whether Germany owes Greece reparations stemming from the 1941-44 nazi occupation re-emerged today in an international ministerial spat.

In early 2010 then prime minister George Papandreou said that while the issue of German World War II reparations had not been definitively resolved, Athens would not raise it during talks to tackle the country's debt crisis.
But late last year Greece's government ordered a special committee at the state accounting office to investigate whether Germany still owes war reparations.
The committee finished the secret report last month.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble snapped on Thursday that Greece should focus on reforming its economy and that the issue of war reparations had been definitively closed years ago.
"I consider such comments irresponsible," he said.
Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos retorted that the reparations issue was one for international law to determine.

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