The Hellenic Diaspora has to obtain the right to vote in Greece and has to be able to elect its own representatives in the Greek Parliament according to former Foreign Minister of Greece Dora Bakoyannis, who spoke to Neos Kosmos during her private visit in Melbourne this week.
Bakoyannis, the daughter of former conservative Prime Minister of Greece Konstantinos Mitsotakis, was the first female mayor of Athens. She was also a contender for the leadership of the governing conservative New Democracy (ND) party in November 2009. Ms Bakoyannis is currently an MP for ND. During her visit to Melbourne she also stated her support for the Diaspora to pay lower taxes for its assets in Greece, whilst at the same time expressing her surprise, even though “progress has been made” as she said, about the fact that the negotiations between Australia and Greece for the working holiday visa have not been completed.
“As a modern European country Greece is obliged to give the voting right to its citizens who live abroad. The voting right should be given to the Greeks of the Diaspora who retain the Greek citizenship, and they should also have the right to elect their own representatives in the electorate regions where they live”, Bakoyianni said.
For the issue of taxing Greeks living abroad she stated that: “It is not possible to avoid taxing the Greek of the Diaspora who has economic interests in Greece. Perhaps we should examine where and how we can alleviate the tax burden of the expatriate, in order to retain and to strengthen his link with Greece and in order to encourage him to invest or to establish a business in Greece”
Talking to Kostas Nikolopoulos, deputy editor of Neos Kosmos, Ms Bakoyannis was optimistic about the future of the Greek economy and said that recovery will come to Greece in the second half of 2014, but this means that the average citizen will not be able to see its results until a later time.
“The government of Antonis Samaras is the only government that can get Greece out of the crisis and secure its future”, she said. In an interview to the Greek Program on SBS radio, Dora Bakoyiannis said that “Greece today is an ideal place for anyone to invest”.
The prominent MP from Greece met this week in Melbourne with Nick Kotsiras, Victoria’s Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship and Minister for Energy and Resources and discussed the current state of Affairs in Greece, in the economic and political front.
Both Mr Kotsiras and Ms Bakoyiannis expressed their deep concerns over the popularity of the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn, and stressed the need for Greek Australians to promote Greece as a holiday destination for Australians wishing to holiday in Europe.
The former Foreign Minister of Greece during her Melbourne visit stated her admiration for the harmonic multicultural society of Australia as well as for the achievements of the Greek community in this country.