Greek parliament adopts resolution calling for WWII reparations from Germany
- Written by E.Tsiliopoulos
The Greek parliament widely approved a resolution on Wednesday evening that officially invites the government to present its claims for German World War II reparations.
Parties voted by standing up, including extreme-right Golden Dawn, while the Communist Party (KKE) deputies remained seated, saying they supported their own resolution, which called for a claim to be filed both with Germany and with every relevant international agency.
The resolution calls on the Greek government "to take all appropriate diplomatic and legal actions for the claim and full satisfaction of all claims by the Greek state regarding World Wars I and II." The first step would be a note verbale sent from the Greek government to Berlin.
The claim relates to Greece's loan to Germany, reparations for destroyed towns and villages and to families of victims, the destruction and theft of cultural artifacts, and famine.
"The issue has a lot of aspects," Parliament President Nikos Voutsis said, adding that the European Parliament and all national parliaments of the EU member-states will be notified of the resolution once it is voted.
He said that the delay in the claims, following an official parliamentary report two years ago, was due to the fact that the government did not want to raise the issue until the end of the loan memoranda in Greece.
"Greece has never waived any of its claims against Germany," he said, referring to the conclusions of the cross-party parliamentary committee, which also established that these claims cannot be written off or be considered to be expired.
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