Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel participated in a discussion in Athens last night, where, in a conversation with the director of the Greek newspaper “Kathimerini“ Alexis Papahellas, she discussed various moments of her political career, as well as her complex relations with Greek governments during the financial crisis, BTA reported.
Merkel, who was Chancellor from 2005 to 2021, is a controversial figure in Greece because of the austerity imposed on Athens by creditors and the Eurogroup during the crisis.
The discussion began with the topic of freedom, which is also the title of Merkel's autobiographical book, which she is presenting during her visit to Athens. The former chancellor returned to her childhood in the then German Democratic Republic and recalled the holidays she spent in Bulgaria.
“Greece was freedom for me, I knew from history that it was the cradle of democracy. I would climb the Pirin mountain and look at Greece from there and imagine how nice it would be to drink some Greek wine and go further, to the sea“, said Merkel.
She spoke of the “difficult“ years of the financial crisis and admitted that she realized “quite late”, towards the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010, that Greece was facing a serious problem.
Merkel has repeatedly stated that what Athens' European partners did not want to happen was to “kick“ Greece out of the eurozone. The former German Chancellor also recalled the phone call from then-Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras to her and French President Francois Hollande in 2015, in which he informed them that Greece would hold a referendum on whether to accept the creditors' terms.
“This was the most surprising phone call I have had in my entire political career“, Merkel said, adding that she was speechless when Tsipras told her that he would advise voters to answer “no“.
Nevertheless, she expressed sympathy for the former Greek Prime Minister, with whom, despite their completely different political views, they managed to reach a common position step by step.
Merkel also commented on the current US President Donald Trump, whose first term coincided with the end of her administration. She said of him that he is a person who always thinks of how to draw attention to himself. Regarding the US President's tariffs, Merkel believes that "if we Europeans manage not to be afraid when (Trump) imposes tariffs on us, and to impose our own," even America will understand that it cannot live alone.
"We are one entity and (it is) a strong entity - let's not underestimate our position towards Trump. We are members of the EU and we make compromises because we believe that together we will better protect our interests," the former chancellor said.
She believes she did the right thing when she visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss cooperation to solve the migration problem. "Politics is “realpolitik“ – I had to talk to him“, Merkel stressed.
She added that she currently has no contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And although she pointed out that it is impossible to have no geopolitical relations with Russia, she said that after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the foundations of these relations had been destroyed. “We have entered a new era, we must not bury our heads in the sand“, Merkel noted.
According to her, one of her biggest personal disagreements with Putin lies in what was the worst event of the 20th century. In her opinion, this is National Socialism and the Nazis. “For him, the collapse of the Soviet Union – "and for me, the fact that the Cold War is over is a good thing," said the former German Chancellor.
In conclusion, and when asked what her message was to the average Greek, she said that she could not imagine the EU without Greece and that she was impressed by the resilience of Greek society. "I would say (to him): let us look to the future together," Merkel said.
After the discussion, she attended a dinner hosted by the editorial staff of "Kathimerini," which was attended by current Greek Deputy Prime Minister Costis Hadzidakis and former Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras.
Today, Merkel held a private meeting with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.