Merkel arrives in Greece in latest stop on ‘farewell tour’

German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived in Athens on Thursday in a closely watched official visit coming at the end of tenure at the helm of Germany, where inevitably the past decade of complicated Greek-German relations amid the backdrop of three institutional bailouts will be revisited.

Nevertheless, on the Greek side, at least, very few of the decision-makers of 2010 and 2015 are still in office, while the European Union in 2021 is pressing ahead with a post-pandemic recovery and resilience fund instead of divisive “finger-pointing” and half-measures while markets crashed.

The visit, Merkel’s “swan song” tour of several European capitals, comes as an energy crisis is affecting Europe and while the pandemic persists.

The influential German leader was expected to attend a private dinner hosted by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis at his residence in central Athens on late Thursday evening.

As expected, strained Greek-Turkish relations and EU-Turkey ties will be on the agenda of talks, with the Mitsotakis government pointing to continued provocations and belligerence by Ankara in the eastern Mediterranean.

The migration problem, Libya and Greece’s recent proposals for energy sufficiency and security are also expected to be broached.