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1. Facts

• Debt: $3.9bn, Reparations: $5.16bn

2. Politics

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• Hans Eichel (Finance Minister): said his country was not prepared to start writing off its Iraqi debt. "We do not only expect to get our money, we will get our money back. If a country has the possibility of repaying its debt, it must do so." -12th April
• Gerhard Schroeder: "It is clear that a legitimate government must be in place and in contact with the Paris Club. Then this issue can be discussed, but not before." - 11th April
• Ernst Welteke (President of central bank): said Iraq is a potentially rich nation because of its oil resources and debt cancellation is "only for very poor countries." - 11th April
• Joerg Mueller (Finance Ministry spokesman): Responding to Wolfowitz, he said that the €4bn owed to Germany could not be cancelled bilaterally. Until the issue is discussed within the Paris Club of creditors, the question of forgiving all or part of Saddam's debt "cannot be answered with a yes or a no." - 11th April

3. Action - Write to Hans Eichel.

• Explain that the Iraqi people have no obligation to pay Saddam's illegitimate debts.
• Remind him that the London Agreement (1953) reduced Germany's debts from 21% of its GNP to 6%. This helped our country become a strong and prosperous democracy. Iraq's financial obligations, today, stand at more than 600% of its GNP. (see ellasjer.de)
• Remind him also that the reparations and financial obligations forced on Germany in the Versailles Treaty aided the rise of Hitler. Do we want to risk pushing Iraq down a similar path?
• Remind him that the Bundestag has twice voted in favour of a fair and transparent arbitration process for indebted countries, and a committment to this is part of the coalition treaty between the Social Demoicrats and the Green Party.
• Ask the government to publically commit to writing off all debt and reparation claims on Iraq.
• Ask him to negotiate within the Paris Club cartel of creditors to encourage multilateral cancellation of all Saddam's debts and to support Jubilee Iraq's proposal for an arbitration tribunal to assess the legitimacy of any remaining claims.

General advice on writing to politicians.