German president visit to mend fences

German President Joachim Gauck embarked Wednesday (05.04.2014) on a three-day visit to Greece. The main "show" on the road trip is set to be a speech on European politics at the Acropolis Museum, attended by previously screened media personnel. Hard questions are expected, but, no driving nails.

The German president will also take part in talks to encourage Greeks to continue with the difficult reform process on the way to overcoming the Greek debt crisis.

The German president will be in from some flack in Athens because of the policies forced on Greece by Germany and the European Union. Many Greeks are embittered by the conditions that were part and parcel (pun intended) with EU aid packages to their country, blaming those regulations for Greece's recession and high unemployment.

However, there is this reparations thing, in civil law (oddly enough) the compensation of war crime victims, rests on the case of the accusers. Unfortunately, Mr Gauss will come in for heavy criticism, that may manifest in official proceedings in parliament.

As the Deutsche Welle German news agency notes eight years ago, opinion polls showed Greeks held Germany in the highest regard among EU partners. Germany has always been Greece's largest trade partner until it was replaced by Italy in the course of the economic crisis. The German agency admits:”Although Germany still holds a major part of Greek debt, Greeks now tends to view Berlin as a merciless austerity driver and stumbling block to their own prosperity.”ck of disdain by the public, and lip service by the media, as it will cause traffic jams in  the center of Athens.