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GREECE

More Greek firms eye low-tax Switzerland

More Greek firms could follow Coca-Cola Hellenic Bottling and move their headquarters to Switzerland or elsewhere to avoid higher taxes at home, Swiss media reports said on Sunday.

More Greek firms eye low-tax Switzerland
Photo: Flickr/Wrote

Several heads of Greek companies had made enquiries about the advantages of moving, Sonntag reported, quoting Greek-Swiss Chamber of Commerce president Nikolaos Aggelidakis.

Among the firms that had made enquiries was one listed on the Greek stock exchange and active in the food sector, but Aggelidakis declined to reveal its name.

Quoting a source close to the Greek stock market, the report said the firm was Perseus Specialty Food products, one of the biggest Greek fish feed producers, with annual turnover of 41.5 million euros ($53.7 million).

According to Greek media quoted by the report, other Greek firms moving abroad include top dairy producer the Fage group, which wants to move headquarters to Luxembourg for fiscal reasons.

Another Swiss newspaper, NZZ, reported that other Greek businesses, including metals company Mytilinaios and distribution firm Jumbos, also want to leave Greece.

Coca-Cola Hellenic decided to set up its HQ in the central canton of Zug, whose fiscal system is the most favourable throughout Switzerland for foreign firms.

The firm is Coca-Cola's second biggest bottler worldwide and serves 28 countries, from Russia to Nigeria.

The Swiss fiscal policy has infuriated Brussels, as the European Union sees businesses fleeing EU countries to the tax haven of Switzerland.

According to Swiss laws, foreign firms which set up in the country pay €51 billions ($66 billion) less in taxes per year than Swiss companies, said a Swiss television report.

Setting an ultimatum, Brussels has given Switzerland until December 13th, when a European summit is held, to present a programme aimed at dismantling such privileges which are judged discriminatory and anti-competitive.

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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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