Glezos quits committee on WWII reparations

SYRIZA MP Manolis Glezos on Tuesday quit Greece's cross-party committee on World War Two reparations, saying that the body had failed to live up to its task.

Glezos, a WWII resistance hero, said that instead of seeking ways to claim German compensation for Nazi crimes, the committee had degenerated into a “study group.”

“I would not have joined the committee if I had known that all you were planning to create was a study group. Should it remain as such, I will ask the Parliament Speaker to abolish [the committee],” he said.

The 91-year-old politician, a candidate for May's European Parliament elections, also alleged that the conservative-led government discouraged a meeting between members of the committee with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her recent visit to Athens.

Germany denies owing anything to Greece for WWII after the 115 million deutsche marks it paid in 1960, one of 12 war compensation agreements it signed with Western states.