“Greece Now Taking Hellenes of Diaspora More Seriously”

By on August 16, 2012 in News

Ioannis Pantazopoulos, President of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (WHIA, Greek acronym PADEE) and member of the Australian Parliament, has just returned from Greece where he met with Greek ministers and discussed several issues concerning the Diaspora.

“It was the first time that Greek politicians paid attention to Hellenes of the Diaspora and their problems,” he told Neos Kosmos newspaper. He added he was surprised by Interior Minister Euripides Stylianidis’ comments on the Greek global community.

“Don’t expect me to tell you what you’re used to; that is, congratulate you on your work and remind you how proud we are of your achievements,” said Stylianidis. “I would like to ask you to provide us with the technical knowledge you’ve acquired as elected MPs in other countries. Please enlighten us with regard to illegal migration, tourism, economy as well as public- and private sector-related subjects. That’s what Greece needs right now,” he concluded.

“Apparently, Greece lacks infrastructure and viable solutions concerning illegal migration,” replied Pantazopoulos. He also said that Greece should take advantage of its natural beauty and attract more tourists since there is not enough collaboration between the Greek state and professionals in the tourist sector.

(Source: ana-mpa)

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  • Atkenos

    John is a great state MP and former Minister, and he consistently serves our ethnic community well. But as to greater recognition of Hellenes of the Diaspora, two years ago I visited Ellada with my wife. I am a local government councillor and I sought to meet with Mayors and Councillors across the nation, where ever we visited, to learn, to discuss, to share. I came bearing gifts which I presented. Two years later I am still waiting for one thank you from even one recipient. Forget the fact that no one gave me anything in return. But the lack of interest from them was deplorable. The lack of wanting to talk or to listen was amazing. Our Councils in Australia do much for our communities, more than I saw in Ellada from local councils there. I work about 35 – 40 hours a week and am paid a very low part time “allowance” for my efforts. I am proud of my commitment to my community but – to be blunt – I was not at all impressed by local government in Ellada.

  • A Greek

    He has the wrong set of values. Tourist industry was a mistake and a lazy cop out. Its one of the reasons why Greece has remained underdeveloped and poor. Its like telling our children to aim to scrub toilets and beg for tips from tourists rather than aim for the moon and build rockets. What made ancient Greeks great wasn’t flipping souvlakis. It was on developing their minds.

    Greece needs to take the hard path and develop technology and manufacturing our else our country is destined to become a third world nation that will one day be annexed to neighbouring states. Full stop.

  • A Greek

    If someone doesn’t think they make enough money is anyone stopping them from opening up their own company and producing things the market wants so they can make more money? Does anyone stop them from working hard and smart to create high paying tech jobs for other Greeks?

    IMO we need to end a far leftist attitude of entitlement in Greece and focus on an attitude of personal responsibility and production. The way we should be thinking of things is not self-righteously complaining about what other Greeks haven’t done for us… but what we can do for other Greeks.

  • A Greek

    As FYROM issues shows,…. if Greeks do not behave like a Hellenes….. we will not be treated as Hellenes.

    If we choose the lazy path of bare minimum existence and like unthinking simple tool making animals.. rather than focus on Hellenic ideals like philosophy, physics, mathematics, biology, etc…. we will bring shame to both ourselves and our ancestors who worked so hard to recreate Greece.

    There are many narratives about Hellenic identity out there. Some absurdly claim we are pure ancient Greek.. when ancient Greeks themselves were not pure Greek Others absurdly claim there is no ancient Greek in us whatsoever. The reality is somewhere down the middle. We are ancient Greeks plus all the people that we have mingled with over the ages. The start though… the seed of our culture… is ancient Greeks. Never let anyone tell you otherwise and never lose focus on those ancient values.