Getting on with people no matter what

As people might gather relationships between Germany and Greece are not that good at the moment.

More accurately you might say that the Greek people are not at all happy with the German government. And the people in Germany are not all happy with any of the versions of the Greek government.

For the Greek people Angela Merkel has become something of an ogre as the terms for the bailout deal seem far too severe and it is exacerbating an already dreadful situation, though the German government will explain (as a good austerity oriented Conservative government will) that if Germans are going to be responsible for paying out the money, they must expect a deal where they expect to get paid back.

Meanwhile many Germans oppose the idea of bailing the Greeks out at all. Their government(s) got them in the mess, they can get them out of it, and if that then means leaving the Euro - then tschüss! A survey in the couple of months old edition of "Stern" that I was reading in the doctor's surgery this week, had a party by party breakdown of whether Germany should bail out Greece. Except for the German Green party (die Grünen), supporters of all the other parties opposed a bailout of Greece by some margin, supporters of die Grünen supported it, but not my much!

Forgotten amidst all this is the usually low-profile, but substantial Greek immigrant population here (which saw a substantial rise in new arrivals - 90% up on 2010 figures - in 2011). All part of the interesting multicultural mix here.

I was reminded of this yesterday. Amidst all the political turmoil, of all things there was a significant football (North American = "soccer") match yesterday between Germany and Greece. Quarter finals of EURO 2012. Germany won as expected (4-2), but the Greeks gave a good account of themselves. Notably some four or five of their team make their living in the Bundesliga.

There seemed to be the usual rivalry between the fans, but it did not seem anything unpleasant. There are some wonderful photos  on the Web today of German and Greek supporters carousing together on the streets of Gdansk (still called Danzig here - despite the ominous overtones) in Poland where the match took place. Well if rival football supporters can meet in such a friendly fashion, there is hope for us all!

Even better was the video image from Hamburg where huge numbers of fans were watching the game on a large screen in a public area. There was this shot, in the middle of this vast throng, of a young woman draped in a Greek flag. At which point Sami Khedira scored the goal of the night to put Germany ahead, and amidst all the excitement in gold, black and red, the Greek flag disappeared from view! Hope she came out unscathed!

There doesn't seem to be that much animosity among the people of the two countries, and with the immigrant population here. The Greek immigrants here seem to mix in well, as far as I can tell that doesn't seem to be changing.

There is an awful lot of despair about the politicians and the politics involved though. Eventually we need answers that work. As I have said before debt is to be avoided if at all possible, austerity and unemployment do not work to improve things, and the general aim must be turn things round for the benefit of the people as a whole. Quite how we get there is uncertain, but there is a lot of goodwill available if you look to the people (rather than the politicians) involved. 

Good luck anyway to the Greeks, and I hope that they have better times sooner rather than later!