Greece is called upon to face “the fact that Turkey is trying to use strategically – in a brutal way – the influence it gained with the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, the former German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble emphasized in an interview with the newspaper “Ta Nea” .
“This is not new. But we must do everything to ensure the principle that borders should not be changed unilaterally by military means,” he added characteristically, citing his country as an example. “We Germans after the disaster of two World Wars learned our lesson – first with France and then with Poland and the Czech Republic: We are no longer fighting for borders, we are uniting Europe.”
Referring to his tenure in the German Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the Greek financial crisis, he emphasized that he himself has a clear conscience about his choices since his motivation was to help and not harm the Greeks. In fact, he noted that “Greece has achieved a lot”, remaining however pessimistic.
“The crisis has not been definitively overcome – especially in the light of the current conditions. But what is true is: Greece has achieved a lot! And this shows that the work done has not gone to waste. We had to demand a lot from Greece, but above all the “Greece had to demand a lot from itself. The price for the internal devaluation, which Greece had to suffer, is very heavy for the Greek citizens. But this was a decision of the Greeks and not of other Europeans,” he said characteristically.
Referring to July 2015 and how close Greece came to Grexit, Mr. Schäuble emphasized that “this was proposed by the great majority of finance ministers at the Eurogroup. And in Greece, some argued that it was better for the country. But it did not pass Council of Heads of State and Government for well-considered reasons. Then Tsipras, by announcing new elections, took a courageous step and again won a majority for the opposite policy, from that with which he had been elected. His contribution was remarkable, which facilitated the successor government in forming the basis for the stabilization of Greece. This deserves recognition.”
Finally, Mr. Schäuble commented on the dangers of the war in Ukraine, that given Putin’s aggressive behavior “strengthening the NATO force is the right way to make it clear that we are determined to credibly defend the values of our own liberal democracies”.
Source: Capital
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