German Finance Minister in Athens on Tuesday

The long-awaited visit of Foreign Minister Analena Berbock (of the Greens) may have been canceled due to covid, but the line-up of top German politicians in Greece is no way over. On Friday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visited Thessaloniki for a “Balkan dinner”. Today, Tuesday, the German Minister of Finance Christian Lindner ((Liberal) will be in Athens for talks with his counterpart Christos Staikouras and the Prime Minister. This is the first visit of the new German Minister of Finance, after Frau Merkel’s 16-year rule.

From Wolfgang Schäuble to Christian Lindner

The last visit of a German Minister of Finance to Greece was by Wolfgang Schäuble, in July 2013. The agenda at that time was monopolized by the Greek economic crisis, with Mr. Schäuble advocating the doctrine of harsh austerity by rejecting a haircut of the Greek debt.

Christian Lindder, like the majority of the German Liberals, then maintained a strict line towards Greece, sometimes even harder than the Schäuble line, also disagreeing with the relaxation of the terms of the Stability Pact.

But things have changed significantly since then. Europe has left behind the single currency crisis. Mr. Lindner in an interview at the end of 2021 even praised Greece, calling it the “model” for Germany in terms of its reform zeal.

Eyes also on the Eurogroup

Lindner’s visit to the Greek capital comes in the shadow of the war in Ukraine, the worrying inflationary trends across Europe and the threatening energy crisis, and the date should not be considered accidental, given that in the crucial Eurogroup of 16 June in Luxembourg which will also discuss Greece’s exit from the enhanced surveillance regime. for which a political decision is expected at the end of August.