Greek Defense Chief Accuses Germany of Taking Over EU, NATO

The Greek defense minister scolded Germany for alleged blackmail and attempts to seize the reins of the European Union and NATO. Earlier, Germany's defense chief accused Athens of compromising its position by moving closer to Russia.

ATHENS (Sputnik) — Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos has accused Germany of attempts to take over EU institutions and NATO, after his German counterpart warned Athens its recent overtures toward Russia put the military bloc at risk.

"The behavior and remarks by German politicians, who are acting as the sole voice of the EU institutions and NATO, are not just unacceptable, it is blackmail," Kammenos said in a statement obtained by RIA Novosti.

In his comment, Kammenos accused Germany of "undermining" European institutions. "That is, if Germany is not trying to abolish the European Union and NATO altogether," he added.

This came after Germany's defense chief Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday in an interview to the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper that, by moving closer to Russia, the new Greek government compromised Greece's position as a member state of the 28-nation NATO military alliance.

Greece's new ruling party Syriza and its Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have recently criticized the European Union for its harsh sanctions toward Moscow.

Athens has also been irked by initiatives of German lawmakers in the European Parliament who proposed this week to pull the European Central Bank (ECB) from the troika of international money lenders who are administering the Greek bailout program.

This followed a statement by German Chancellor Angela Merkel last Saturday that ECB, European Commission and International Monetary Fund were unlikely to renegotiate Greece's outstanding debt in light of the billions already written off.