A day after a formal Greek request to open negotiations on the matter of war reparations, Germany outright rejected the request, insisting the issue is legally closed.

The government of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras sent a formal request to Berlin to open communications on the matter.

A German foreign ministry spokesman in Berlin reiterated that- while Germany stands by its moral responsibility and seeks “dialogue with Greece” and a “common culture of remembrance” it considers the payments issue closed and owes nothing more to Greece.

“Over 70 years after the end of the war and more than 25 years after the Two Plus Four Treaty (allowing Germany’s 1990 reunification), the question of reparations has been legally and politically settled,” said the spokesman, Rainer Breul.

the question of reparations has been concluded legally and politically.

German Foreign Ministry

A Greek parliamentary committee last year determined that Germany owes Greece at least 270 billion euros (US$300 billion) for World War I damages and World War II looting, atrocities and a forced loan to the Nazi regime.

In addition, the Greek state accounting office has estimated that private claims for war dead and invalids could be worth a further 107 billion euros.

Berlin says all former claims were finally settled with the 1990 Two-Plus Four Agreement signed by the former West and East Germany and the post-war occupying powers the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union.