Relations between Germany and Greece have traditionally been close.

The German-Greek Action Plan provides the framework for intensive cooperation in politics, business, technology and science.

Germany is one of Greece’s most important trade partners. German companies are among the principal foreign investors in the country, and the German Chamber of Commerce in Greece will celebrate its centenary in 2024. Approximately 28,000 people are employed by the over 150 German companies operating in Greece. In 2024, Germany was the partner country of Greece’s most important trade fair, the Thessaloniki International Fair.

Since spring 2021, the German-Greek Youth Office, which has offices in Thessaloniki and Leipzig, has been promoting exchange between young people from both countries, in which more than 10,000 young people have participated over the last three years. The German political foundations in Greece also play an important role in bilateral dialogue. The German‑based Association of German‑Greek Societies currently has 33 members.

The German schools in Athens and Thessaloniki were founded over a century ago. German as a foreign language plays an important role in Greece and is the most important foreign language after English and French. The Goethe-Institut and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) have offices in the country. The German Archaeological Institute is celebrating its 150th anniversary in 2024.

Greece was occupied by Germany during the Second World War, when the Wehrmacht and the SS committed terrible crimes. Germany unequivocally recognises its special historical responsibility. In the context of his visit to Greece in 2014, then-Federal President Joachim Gauck asked for forgiveness on behalf of Germany from the families of the people who were murdered. In order to address this dark chapter in the two countries’ common history, the Federal Foreign Office has set up the German-Greek Future Fund, which is intended to help establish a shared culture of remembrance and to achieve reconciliation with the villages where atrocities were committed and with the Jewish communities.

Some 360,000 people of Greek origin currently live in Germany, while approximately 8300 German citizens live in Greece (not including those with dual citizenship).