My advice to Greece is not to blame it all on Turkey

[ad_1]

It is a moment of “great opportunity” to stimulate investments in Greece via the national plan for recovery and resilience of the country “Greece 2.0”, which has transposed the orientations of the EU program “Next Generation EU”, and via European Green Deal, German Ambassador to Greece Ernst Reichel said in an interview with AMNA while in Thessaloniki for the 85th Thessaloniki International Fair (TIF).

The full interview is given below:

On bilateral relations between Greece and Germany:

Basically, we have a very deep and substantial relationship in all areas. Economic, cultural, societal – especially here in northern Greece you can see it very clearly. The political tool, the relations between governments and parliaments are excellent. What bothers me is that there is a kind of negative fixation in Greek society on Germany, that there are stereotypes and I consider it my job to work against such stereotypes. But I don’t think it’s just a job for the German side, but also for the Greek side, for the opinion leaders here in Greece. And since we are such close partners and also extremely close partners across the EU, I think it is in everyone’s interest that we overcome the negativity that exists in public opinion.

Recent polls show that there is remarkable negative sentiment and it is striking how completely this is contrary to the perception of Germany in other countries. Chancellor Merkel was named “Person of the Year” by Time magazine and she is a very popular person around the world. Here in Greece no, on the contrary. In such a situation where everyone is of the same opinion and you here in Greece have a different opinion, it might be worth taking a break and asking yourself why and if it is really justified.

On investments and the economy:

Certainly yes. We are at a moment of great opportunity, I believe, through the EU’s “Next Generation EU” program, through the European Green Deal. “Next Generation EU” was transposed here in Greece to “Greece 2.0”, which received a lot of applause from all over Europe, so it is really a chance to create a moment of significant progress for the country and to fill the investment deficit, the lack of investment that exists here in Greece. And foreign investors – and Germany is the largest foreign investor in Greece – will have to play a major role there. Indeed, “Greece 2.0” focuses on digitization and green energy and Greece is well positioned to become a major achievement in exactly these areas. You are certainly aware of a very large investment by RWE, the German electricity company, with PPC in West Macedonia. More than a billion euros in volume. I think there is a lot more that can happen. The framework conditions seem to be there, we can improve them further, the Prime Minister has made announcements in this direction, so I think this is a moment of opportunity.

Thessaloniki is, from the German point of view, a place where there is a particular German presence, a German interest. Thessaloniki has a highly educated and young population, so there is a lot to be done in digitization, for example. We also have logistics tourism, which is a traditionally strong area, so there really is something there. And of course, the “beacon” of German investment in Greece is the new airport building, which was completed in advance like many other regional airports. I think there are a lot of things we can build on, a lot of opportunities and now it’s up to Greece and Germany to seize that opportunity.

On Afghanistan:

We need to be aware of the possibility or even the likelihood that there will be many migrants from Afghanistan. The EU’s interior ministers, when they met recently, all shared this assessment and they also share the opinion that we must do what we can to avoid the uncontrolled flows of large numbers of migrants to Europe. We will have – with all the means at our disposal – to work in the region to offer refugees, to people in danger, opportunities in neighboring countries and to offer humanitarian aid, possibly also in Afghanistan if we can, and thus reduce the pressure that can come to our borders. If we work together as Europeans, I think we can do a lot. But yes, we have to be realistic, even the best border control will not be able to prevent the arrival of migrants in the EU and it is important to show European solidarity when this begins.

On Turkey:

It is true that at the Evros border there has been an instrumentalization of migrants by Turkey. But I think it is simplistic to say that any future flow of migrants that passes through Turkey is an instrumentalisation by Turkey. It suffices to remember 2014, when there was a much greater flow of migrants than at the Evros border and no one saw this as an instrumentalisation by a particular country. My advice would be to resist the tendency to blame everything on Turkey here. Evros yes, but in other possible future cases you have to look more closely and in a differentiated way. It is a fact that Turkey has four million refugees within its borders. Imagine that figure and think of something of a corresponding figure of migrants in Greece. It is not surprising that in Turkey itself there is a critical feeling of arrival of additional migrants, therefore the natural tendency and we have seen this in many countries, not just in Turkey, when they arrive for do not keep them in the country. It is a kind of political reflex which is perhaps not good but which is observed very often.

About Merkel:

After 16 years in power, it is evident that Chancellor Merkel’s legacy will remain in many areas. Now we are going to go to the elections and we will certainly have new faces, new personalities who will come forward but I do not think there will be any drastic changes in foreign policy for several reasons. The first is that we are sure we have a coalition government. Such coalition governments tend to orient themselves towards the political center. Particularly if you see a tripartite coalition as a strong possibility. And second, foreign policy in Germany has always been an area of ​​broad consensus.

On Nord-Stream 2:

As you know, the US and Germany have agreed on a common position on how to deal with this disagreement we have on Nord Stream 2 and we have agreed to jointly deal with any negative consequences for them. third country, especially Ukraine where I served. The idea is to also create opportunities for Ukraine and perhaps to compensate for what they fear to be the negative consequences. And second, the United States and Germany have agreed to react if indeed Russia uses Nord Stream 2 as a geopolitical weapon. Energy pipeline policy is a very complex area. Political judgments arise from evaluations and predictions which cannot be reinforced since they are predictions. We will therefore have to see what really happens, but the important thing is that there is a common political will between the United States and Germany to ensure that the feared dangers for third countries do not materialize.

On vaccination:

I think everyone has to realize in Greece and Germany that we have a way at our disposal to really get back to normal life and that is vaccination. And it is of great importance for everyone, for the vaccinated and for those who have not yet been vaccinated that we achieve this goal… ”

READ MORE: Germany forgot Greece’s Independence Day.

[ad_2]