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GREECE

Greece won’t use stolen Swiss data: report

Attempts by Greece to identify account holders in Switzerland ran into difficulty on Monday with the Greek finance ministry ruling out the use of stolen data and Swiss banks refusing to name lawmaker clients.

Greece won't use stolen Swiss data: report
Photo: Takis Kolokotronis

The ministry told parliament that Greece would not use Swiss bank data saved on CDs purchased by some German authorities as the material could be deemed illicit "industrial espionage", the state-run Athens News Agency said.

Last week, it was revealed that the Swiss Bankers Association rebuffed a request by Greek parliament in early 2012 for the identification of Greek lawmakers with accounts in Switzerland.

The association had replied in July that it had no policy of forwarding such requests, and that lawmakers should contact Swiss banks directly.

Struggling to avoid bankruptcy since 2010, Greece has been trying to clamp down on perennial tax evasion, but with limited success.

The Bank of Greece was reported in July to have information on 403 Greeks who had moved at least €100,000 (121,000 francs, $131,000) abroad in 2010, whilst claiming to have zero income.

And the finance ministry in February said Greeks had legally moved €16 billion abroad in the last two years.

On Monday, the finance ministry said that instead of giving information to Greece, Bern was taxing account holders and transferring a portion to Greece.

As a result, the ministry said Athens gained over €5.9 million from 2010 tax receipts and some €9.9 million for 2009.

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ANGELA MERKEL

German war crime payments debated in Greece

Greece's parliament on Wednesday began a debate on a resolution to demand the payment of German war crime reparations, an issue long disputed by Berlin.

German war crime payments debated in Greece
Angela Merkel and Alexis Tsipras in Greece in January. Photo: DPA

“These demands are always active. They were never set aside by Greece,” parliament chairman Nikos Voutsis told reporters this week.

The chamber is expected to approve later Wednesday, with cross-party support, a resolution calling on the government of Premier Alexis Tsipras “to take all the necessary diplomatic and legal steps to claim and fully satisfy all the demands of the Greek state stemming from World War I and World War II”.

A parliamentary committee last year determined that Germany owes Greece at least €270 billion for World War I damages and looting, atrocities and a forced loan during the Nazi occupation in World War II.

Reclaiming war reparations has been a campaign pledge by Tsipras since 2015. He faces multiple electoral challenges this year, with his party trailing in polls.

'Historical responsibility'

During a visit to Greece in January, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said her country “recognised its historical responsibility.”

SEE ALSO: Merkel says Germany recognizes responsibility for Nazi war crimes in Greece

“We recognize our historical responsibility. We know how much suffering we, as Germany in the time of Nazism, have brought to Greece,” she said.

In 2014, ex-president Joachim Gauck had also sought public forgiveness in the name of Germany from relatives of those murdered by the Nazis in the mountains of northern Greece.

But when it comes to actual payments, the German government has always insisted that the issue was settled in 1960 in a deal with several European governments.

Germany's government spokesman Steffen Seibert reiterated Wednesday that “the reparation issue is judicially and politically settled”. 

He said Berlin is doing “everything it can so Greece and Germany maintain good relations as friends and partners”. 

During the Greek economic crisis, there was further tension in Athens over draconian EU austerity and bailout terms seen to be imposed by Berlin hardliners.

Relations have improved over the last three years after Tsipras' government endorsed conditions linked to satisfying its creditors.

Tsipras and Merkel also worked closely on finding common ground on migration and Balkans security.

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