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Syriza's Tsipras pushes war reparations issus -- Wolfgang Schäuble may be on a charm offensive but behind-the-scenes there is much talk of war reparations. War reparations are a neuralgic point that few German politicians can ever avoid and today, as finance minister Schäuble held talks with prime minister Antonis Samaras and other officials in Athens' governing coalition, the main opposition leader Alexis Tsipras ensured it was raised.Meeting Greece’s octogenarian head of state, Carolos Papoulias, barely a block away, the radical leftist repeated that it was wrong to sweep the issue of compensation for crimes committed during the Nazis’ savage occupation of the country “under the carpet.”A world war II veteran, Papoulias has strongly supported the compensation claim. Schäuble has been one of the most fiercest critics of Greece’s attempt to win further reparations from Berlin saying “the issue was settled a long time ago. Paying reparations is out of the question.”His rejection has added to the sour mood between the two countries. In the war of words between Athens and Berlin over the issue, Tsipras hopes to at least have embarrassed Schäuble on his home turf....Schäuble is "who many in Greece blame for pushing the tough cutbacks forced on the country in recent years." Hardly surprising, given the deft way Greek politicians have of passing the laws that they've negotiated, and then blithely putting the blame on the Troika for everything.

"I'm not the super-troika" commented Schäuble to German TV, before setting off.  The cuts in the public sector aren't new. They've been in every memorandum since 2011. Maybe even since 2010, the first memorandum.  So, the Papandreou, and then Papademos, and now the Samaras administration ducked and they weaved and palavered for a few years, until it finally hit the top of the prior items list. They'd have been better to have got it done fast, back when their was more popular support for reforms. A point made by the extremely annoying Alexis Papachelas at ekathimerini. But he, too, has this Samaras habit of just deftly putting it on the Troika.

The troika’s big mistake...Those among us, however, who could see a little bit further down the road had seen that the socialist PASOK’s party old guard, together with the unionists and the core members of the administration, would seek to block any ambitious reform effort.

Ably helped by Mr. Samaras and New Democracy, naturally. This weary "we could see it all coming" tone really gets on my wick. If New Democracy were so clever and far-seeing, then they should have formed a government of national unity to get the Reforms through. Which is what Samaras was requested to do.