BAD MÜNSTEREIFEL/LISBON (Own report) – With his attendance at the 50th anniversary of the founding of Portugal’s Partido Socialista (PS), Chancellor Olaf Scholz has commemorated the party’s founding in Bad Münstereifel, in German exile. On April 19, 1973, the later Prime Minister, Mário Soares, and other members of the opposition to the dictatorship of António de Oliveira Salazar founded the PS in an academic institution of the SPD-affiliated Friedrich Ebert Foundation (“Haus Münstereifel”). With the help of the West German foundation, the new party sought also to position itself against the, at the time, very strong Partido Communista Português and to prevent it from coming to power. By aiding the PS, the foundation was also securing for itself and the SPD the best political contacts to Portugal. Similar processes are known to have taken place in relationship to Spain and Greece. Exiled members of the Greek opposition, who had been integrated in political networks in the Federal Republic of Germany – often by the SPD – later became ministers or president in Athens. The social democrats’ support for the PS was also intended to detract from the fact that Bonn was supporting the Salazar dictatorship with arms deliveries for its colonial wars in Africa. Read more

BRUSSELS (Own report) - Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's new EU Migration Pact replicates illegal elements of the notorious Hungarian anti-refugee defense and is sharply criticized by refugee and human rights organizations. According to the pact, refugees coming from countries with low rates of asylum recognition should be detained in camps. The duration of detention can be officially accumulated to six months. Hungary had previously established such camps ("transition camps"), but had to announce their immediate closure after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) declared the Hungarian internment practice illegal. The EU has already begun setting up such camps, one is under construction on the Greek Island of Samos, and another is to be constructed on Lesbos. Refugee and human rights organizations have voiced sharp criticism, calling it a "diabolical disenfranchisement pact." Meanwhile, Western powers are creating new reasons for flight: brutal sanctions are starving Syria's population. Read more

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) - Athens has formally requested reparations negotiations with Berlin for the devastation the German occupiers had inflicted on Greece during World War II. The Greek Ambassador handed over a confidential note verbale to the competent authorities in Berlin, confirmed the German foreign ministry, yesterday. According to a Greek parliamentary commission, the reparations debt amounts to €288 billion, at current value. The German government categorically rejects payments. As a spokesperson for the German foreign ministry confirmed, "the issue has been settled legally and politically." For a long time, the Federal Republic of Germany has, in fact, linked its reparation obligations, stipulated in a 1946 Agreement, to a peace treaty concluded sometime in the future. When the issue arose in 1990, Germany concluded the Two-Plus-Four-Agreement "instead of" a peace treaty and unilaterally declared the "reparations issue … settled." Internal documents from 1990 expose Bonn's bag of tricks. Read more

BERLIN/ATHENS/SKOPJE (Own report) - With her visit to Athens, beginning tomorrow, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is continuing a series of unprecedented interference by NATO and EU members into the domestic affairs of two Southeast European countries - this time in a dispute over a name between Greece and Macedonia. Because of Greek objections, Macedonia is known internationally as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). In line with a June 17, 2018 agreement, the country is to change its name to North Macedonia. Because the renaming is a prerequisite for the country's admission to NATO and its negotiations for EU membership, the NATO war alliance and the European Union are urging that the name change process be sped up. This is also the reason behind Merkel's talks in Athens. The West is exerting massive pressure, and justifying renaming the country with allegations of Russian interference. The renaming is in violation of the Macedonia's referendum results and is dependent upon the votes of the opposition in the Macedonian parliament's forthcoming final vote. Corrupt methods are obviously inducing members of the opposition to vote in favor of changing the name. Read more

BERLIN/ATHENS/WARSAW (Own report) - In reference to Greece and Poland's new demands for reparations for Germany's World War II mass crimes, the German government has reconfirmed its blockade on compensations. Berlin maintains that there are no legal grounds for Athens and Warsaw's demands. No reparations will be paid. A parliamentary commission in Greece has estimated that the material damages inflicted during German occupation between 1941 and 1944, amount to €288 billion. The Polish parliament has estimated the destruction caused by the reign of terror during Nazi occupation is at €840 billion. Athens intends to take initial steps before the end of the year to force German government compliance. Germany, in fact, has successfully avoided honoring any of the compensation claims, by using legal finesse and political pressure. At the same time, German authorities are participating in unofficial memorial ceremonies for the victims of the Nazi reign of terror, ostentatiously begging "forgiveness" from the victims - free of charge. Read more

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) - Just before Greece’s third crisis program expires, German economists are skeptical about the country’s future prospects and are calling for more deregulation measures. Athens did "not use the crisis as an opportunity," the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) notes in its recent analysis. This is why the gross value added of Greek private businesses remains too low to reach a higher economic growth. The DIW regrets that when the crisis program ends, so will the "reform pressure." The German "reform pressure" on Greece has, in fact, ruined the country’s economy and increased public debt by 50 percent - to 180 percent of the GDP-, created mass unemployment and forced hundreds of thousands to emigrate in search for employment. In the end, even the IMF has rejected the German austerity policy, and US media note that Greece is stuck "in the worst collapse a rich country has ever gone through." Read more

ATHENS/BERLIN (Own report) - Following yesterday’s euro zone finance ministers’ approval of a new austerity dictate for Athens, the Greek population will be confronted with more measures exacerbating impoverishment. The measures agreed upon late last week by the Greek government, relevant EU institutions and the IMF include the expansion of evictions. Critics are warning of an increase in homelessness. At the same time, the sale of state-owned property continues with plans to sell off four power plants. Unions have announced plans to strike in protest, but they cannot be sure that they will be allowed to carry through, because their right to strike has been severely restricted due to pressure from Brussels. Alleged initial successes, such as a slight decrease in unemployment, turns out to be a sham, because it is based on a dramatic increase in particularly low-paid part-time jobs, which do nothing to reduce poverty, but, on the contrary, consolidate it, in the long run. Read more

THESSALONIKI The Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and the "Train of Commemoration" are demanding that the receipts extorted from Greece during the anti-Semitic deportations of the "Reichsbahn" be reimbursed. german-foreign-policy.com documents their joint letter addressed to the Board of Management of the Deutsche Bahn AG. Read more