When I moved back to this city in 2010/11, I remember that work on the Greek Embassy had just started. Now, well over 4 years later, the Greeks' new Berlin representation is still not completed. Now you'd have thought only the Germans would be capable of such an embarrassing delay when it comes to construction work. Alas, no!
That said, I suppose in the case of the Greek Embassy, the delay is caused by lack of money rather than inefficiency. With Berlin's new airport it's the other way round: Good money is thrown after bad as billions of Euros are being pumped into a project which some say will never be completed. I hope, the same is not true of the Greek Embassy, for it is quite a pretty building. At least the old section of it. I'm not so sure about the new side wing that's been added, though ...
Wouldn't you agree, however, that the never-ending saga of Greece's unfinished Embassy is a poignant metaphor to the Greek crisis as a whole ...?
The Greek Embassy/ Berlin, as seen from Hiroshima Sreet (click on each image to enlarge):
It's not as if there hadn't been progress ...
... completion seems only days away by the looks of it ...
... and yet, this is what the building site has looked like for well over a year now ...
The Greek Embassy/ Berlin, as seen from Hildebrand Street:
... I'm aware that it may sound cynical, but because there seems so very little left to do ...
... making me speculate that Alexis Tsipras may refuse to open the embassy building ...
... just for the simple reason to antagonize Merkel (... and who could blame him?!) ...
The German Government's poor response to the Greek crisis has become the stuff political satire is made of in this country. A particularly funny send-up, which had me in stitches, can be found here (in German):
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