LETTER FROM CORFU: German suggestions of payback for any Greek bailout have raised Mediterranean hackles
‘GREECE IS not an island” declared prime minister George Papandreou last week, drawing attention to the fact that Greece’s financial difficulties leave no EU country in isolation.
Yet as holidaymakers know well, Greece is in fact thousands of islands. And some should be handed over to Germany in exchange for the EU bailout. That's if elements in the German press and parliament are to be taken seriously. An editorial in the German newspaper Bilddemanded: "We give you the money – you give us Corfu."
People in Corfu have long cherished the idea of independence, ever since the British handed over the Ionian islands to Greece in 1864, and especially when the latest austerity measures have pushed petrol to €1.50 per litre.
But the idea of submitting to a German takeover as advocated in Bildbeggars belief. Belief, after all, is more or less the only commodity left in Greece to beggar.
"And sell the Acropolis too", thundered Bild, looking for hostage-trophies in return for a rescue package.
German hostility to any kind of bailout for Greece is very strong: 84 per cent of Germans polled last week were opposed to financial aid for Greece.
This has provoked a tit-for-tat war of words, which caused the outspoken deputy Greek prime minister Theo Pangalos to assert that Germany still owed reparations in respect of Greek gold looted from Athens during the second World War – a claim vigorously denied by Berlin. His bitterness has been echoed by the Mayor of Athens, Nikitas Kaklamanis, who wants €70 billion in rebuilding costs for war damage.
Maybe in retaliation for Pangalos’ comments, angry German MPs such as Josef Schlarmann and Mark Wanderwitz, both from the governing Christian Democrats, have called for Greece to make payment in kind in return for the essential aid that will inevitably flow from the EU: the thinking seems to be that if Greece has been so deceitful in its financial affairs, then it must pay by way of sacrifices – hence the demand for Corfu and the Acropolis.
Also, Frank Schaeffler, of the coalition’s Free Democratic Party, advocates a German stake in state-owned companies – Deutsche Telekom already owns 25 per cent of OTE, the Greek national telecommunications network.
Greeks are accustomed to German rule: the first King of Greece was a Bavarian prince, 17-year-old Otto, who reigned from 1830-62 and bestowed one great favour: he introduced lager beer to his new subjects. Today we have “King” Otto Rehhagel, the German coach of the national football team, who bestowed another favour: he led them to victory in the European championship in 2004.
But given the appalling mess that the Nazis made of Corfu Town during the blitz in 1943, Corfiots are less than enthusiastic about German ownership of their island today, despite the fact that many Germans (along with Dutch, British and Irish) already own property here.
The idea that Greece would be in a position to hand over anything as significant as the island of Corfu or the Parthenon is so ludicrous as to indicate that the writer in Bildhad been watching Indiana Jones in his quest to reach the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But the fact that several small uninhabited Greek islands are already available on the open market through reputable realtors – prices seem to start at around $1.5 million (€1.09 million) – does point to the fact that such a prize is very attractive to a cash-rich buyer.
An equally undeniable fact – that most of these islands are too small to sustain a population of any size, and many are without any fresh water – explains why they remain on the market.
“Come to my Greek island” might be an enticing proposition until you realise the domain in question is scarcely extensive enough for a few sunbeds, let alone the domestic staff and parking for the yacht. Very few of the islands, such as Skorpios, owned by the Onassis family, are sufficiently accommodating, and even it lies on the largely unfashionable west coast, rather than in the Aegean, between mainland Greece and Turkey.
How German ownership of an island, or group of islands, could be translated into a significant quid pro quo for EU aid is uncertain. Maybe advocates of this territorial annexation haven’t worked out the precise details of how it is to be administered.
But if you dismiss the sun-holiday aspect of the scheme, the idea of asset-stripping is not entirely daft. Some of these islands, such as the five-square-mile Castelorizo, lying hardly a mile from the Turkish coast, are today the subject of negotiations between Turkey and Greece, mainly because of the much-disputed location of the international border: Castelorizo may well be sitting on significant oil or gas deposits. Since the 14th century it has been “owned” by at least eight different states.
Ceding it – and its oil potential – to Germany might not be too painful or unfamiliar an experience for the 300 islanders, however deeply it might bite into Greek national pride.