The Greek government says Germany owes Greece nearly
€279bn (£204bn; $303bn) in war reparations for the Nazi occupation during World
War Two.
However, the German government says the issue was
resolved legally years ago. Greece's radical left Syriza government is making
the claim while struggling to meet massive debt repayment deadlines.
Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras raised the
reparations issue when he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin last
month.
The new figure given by Greek Deputy Finance Minister
Dimitris Mardas includes €10.3bn for an occupation loan that the Nazis forced
the Bank of Greece to pay.
"According to our calculations, the debt linked
to German reparations is 278.7bn euros," Mr Mardas told a parliamentary
committee investigating responsibility for Greece's debt crisis.
Mr Mardas said the reparations calculation had been
made by Greece's state general accounting office.
Berlin paid 115m Deutschmarks to Athens in 1960 in
compensation - a fraction of the Greek demand. Greece says it did not cover
payments for damaged infrastructure, war crimes and the return of the forced
loan.
Germany insists the reparations issue was settled in
1990 legally and politically before Germany reunified.
Syriza politicians have frequently blamed Germany for
the hardship suffered by Greeks under the tough bailout conditions imposed by
international lenders.
Mr Tsipras is trying to renegotiate the €240bn EU-IMF
bailout that saved Greece from bankruptcy. Greece has not received bailout
funds since August last year, as the lenders are dissatisfied with the pace of
Greek reforms.
A Greek repayment of €448m to the International
Monetary Fund is due this Thursday. Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has
said that Greece "intends to meet all obligations to all its creditors, ad
infinitum".
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