About 40 years separate Helmut Schmidt and Angela Merkel – he was Chancellor of West Germany in the 1980s and Mrs. Merkel is Chancellor today, of a completely different Germany. A radical change has taken place since Helmut Schmidt’s time.

The collapse of so-called real socialism knocked down the infamous Berlin Wall and united the two Germanys. In the name of progress and growth, the West Germans “invaded” East Germany, where they took over the entire production of the German state via investments. The voracious German industries swallowed up the naïve “socialists” of East Germany.

(In Greece we experienced the succession in German industry via printing companies. Although To Vima had signed a contract with the East German PLAMAG, all of sudden it began working with MAN, which had since absorbed the East Germans).

East Germany paid dearly for its induction in the single German state, despite the bonds with their “brothers” in West Germany. Nevertheless, the unification of the two states went through, giving us the new powerful “partner” in the European Union.

The Aftermath: About ten years before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Konstantinos Karamanlis managed to get Greece inducted in the United Europe. As he himself would explain, the induction in united Europe was his life’s work and was made possible due to the decisive support and assistance from the Chancellor at the time Helmut Schmidt and the French President at the time, Giscard D’ Estaing. Bother have confessed that they helped Greece to honor the country’s contribution to the creation of the European spirit.

Giscard D’ Estaing helped Greece become accepted in the EEC primarily due to his friendship with Karamanlis. The economy did not play a role in Greece’s induction in the European Economic Community (EEC). The French President’s motive were clearly political.

On the contrary, the developments in Bonn – the capital of West Germany – were dramatic. The Chancellor Helmut Schmidt was tight-lipped when the received the Greek Prime Minister, outright telling him after greeting him that he does not agree with Greece joining the EEC. All the diplomats froze, but Karamanlis kept his cool and with the help of his translator (it was his close associate Ambassador Petros Molyviatis) he explained to the Chancellor that Germany must consent for political and historic reasons.

Schmidt was caught by surprised and he in turn asked from Karamanlis to speak in private. Two arm chairs were quickly placed in the center of the Chancellery’s majestic atrium, with Schmidt and Karamanlis debating for two hours, as journalists looked on from a distance. Ultimately, Schmidt enforced the induction of Greece in the EEC for political reasons.

Since then a lot has happened and two more Greek Prime Ministers have asked for assistance from the German Chancellery for political reasons.

Let us hope that Politics prevail over the Economy.

Stavros P. Psycharis

Originally published in the Sunday print edition