Shipping Minister sets German war compensations issues
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
Shipping Minister Panagiotis Kouroumblis set the issue of the German WWII compensations to Greece, the migration and matters regarding antiquities stolen from Greece in his meeting on Tuesday with the president of the parliament of North Rhine-Westafalia Andre Kuper.
Kouroumblis asked from Kuper to convey the issue of compensations to the German government stating that despite 1953 agreement with the union of the two Germanies that said that the issue will be settled it is still pending and the case has not closed.
He said that in 1953 Greece was among the countries that agreed on the settlement of the German debt and estimated that the new German government will assist for the settlement of the Greek debt.
Kouroumblis also set the issue of antiquities illegally taken from Greece.
In the meeting the Greek minister referred to the need for further cooperation between Greece and Germany in matters referring to democracy and the parliamentary system and on how Europe could better protect the democratic institutions.
He also made a special reference to the Greek community of North Rhine- Westfalia saying that "thousands of Greeks have been incorporated with the local society and we continue to be interested in those people."
On his part, Kuper praised Greece's and the Greek Coast Guard's effort on the management of the refugees issue and the protection of EU's sea borders.
