Germany is willing to discuss the possibility of making extra pension payments to Holocaust survivors if that is what the Israeli government wants, a German government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Spokesman Thomas Steg was responding to a question about comments made last week by Israeli Minister of Pensioner's Affairs, Rafi Eitan.
"If we get to the point where we need further negotiations, we'll see," Steg said, "we wouldn't rule out having talks if the Israeli government wants them. We would not refuse talks."
German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Jaeger said Israel had made no formal request to reopen the issue, which is covered by the 1952 Luxembourg Agreement with Germany on reparations for survivors of the Nazi Holocaust.
A spokeswoman for Eitan later clarified the minister's remarks, saying he did not wish to renegotiate theagreement. Rather he wanted Israeli and German officials to discuss ways of finding funds to cover costs not taken into account when the original agreement was signed.
Steg said that the massive migration of Jews from the former Soviet Union could not have been predicted in 1952 when the original deals were made.