Nazi gold - that's the problem Athens says

Heightened tensions between Greece and Germany over the perilous state of Athenian finances, I'm afraid to report.

This from ITN political editor Tom Bradby's new blog which quotes the Open Europe press summary. Obviously written by someone with their tongue stuck firmly in their cheek:

"Greek Deputy Prime Minister, Theodore Pangalos, said Germany had no right to judge Greek finances after wreaking havoc on the economy during the four years that the country was under Nazi occupation in the Second World War.

He added that Germany had failed to make adequate compensation. “They took away the Greek gold that was at the Bank of Greece, they took away the Greek money and they never gave it back. This is an issue that has to be faced sometime,” he said.


Andreas Peschke, a spokesman at the German Foreign Ministry, replied, “A discussion about the past is not helpful to solve the problems…facing us in Europe today.” The Telegraph quotes a banker saying, “How can they call the Germans incompetent Nazis and still expect a bail-out?”

(Tom, I discover is wasted on political reporting. He has six novels to his name which puts the rest of us shysters to shame.)