Olaf Solz from Paris, afternoon in Athens – Equipment and energy in focus
With energy as a central issue, the dynamic restart of the Greece-Germany relationship is being attempted as Chancellor Olaf Soltz arrives in Athens this afternoon from Paris for a bilateral visit.
According to yesterday’s response from Deutsche Welle, “the trip is long-awaited from the Greek side, but it has also been high on the German agenda for a long time. The war in Ukraine and the geopolitical upheavals in the eastern Mediterranean, with “threats” and “unfriendly” statements (according to the phraseology of German government briefings) from the Turkish leadership becoming daily, make it necessary to confirm the cherished Greek-German relations, from the shadows of the past.
The scheduled press conference of Olaf Soltz with Kyriakos Mitsotakis tomorrow at 12:00 noon on Thursday, October 27. One day before October 28, the national anniversary, the German Marder armored vehicles from the Berlin-Athens circular exchange of weapons systems agreement in support of Kiev, are expected at the Thessaloniki military parade.
And the report of the German international news agency continues that for the German government the importance of the idiosyncratic exchange of tanks (40 German Marder for Greece and 40 Greek, Soviet-type old BMP-1 for Ukraine) is great. With the “Ringtausch” agreements that the German government has been launching for months with Greece and the countries of Eastern Europe, such as the Czech Republic or Poland, it is trying to implement its promise of military support for Ukraine on the field with tanks. Except that it does not want to send directly to Ukraine itself in order not to become a “belligerent party”, but through third countries, which in turn expand by upgrading – of course there is also the opposite view – their armaments capabilities. Citing the German newspaper Welt, DW reports that the German equipment giant KMW plans additional cooperation on Greek soil with the “Mytileneos” group in the context of the production of ultra-modern Leopard 2 armored vehicles. Official announcements are expected for all of this in the coming days.
From then on, the German interest in the energy prospects that Greece now dynamically offers in the field of renewable energy production but also in the field of storage and transport of other energy sources, such as liquefied natural gas LNG, is intense.
As for the Greek-Turkish issues, although the German government still remains sparing in statements and perhaps not as outgoing as the foreign minister and the Green Foreign Minister Analena Burbock, nevertheless the messages sent for a long time from Berlin are in favor of Greece and territorial integrity in the Aegean, but definitely carefully. After all, Greece’s border with Turkey is also a European external border.”
Source: DW